deep freeze

¹ American  

noun

1. a state or period of halted or suspended activity or progress.

   High interest rates created a deep freeze in housing construction.

2. suspended animation.

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idioms

1. put in / into the deep freeze, to stop or suspend the activity or progress of.

   A series of quarrels put their romance into the deep freeze.

deep-freeze ² American  

[deep-freez] / ˈdipˈfriz /

verb (used with object)

deep-freezed, deep-froze, deep-freezed, deep-frozen, deep-freezing

1. to quick-freeze (food).

2. to store in a frozen frozen state.

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Etymology

Origin of deep freeze¹

An Americanism dating back to 1940–45

Origin of deep-freeze²

An Americanism dating back to 1945–50; deep + freeze

Example Sentences

The detention of the “two Michaels,” as they are known here, plunged ties between Ottawa and Beijing into a deep freeze.

From Washington Post

California, with its Mediterranean climate, depends heavily on moisture stored in the state’s deep freeze — the snowpack in the high Sierra — during the dry summer months.

From Los Angeles Times

Traders are betting that average winter prices will surpass last year's peaks, when a deep freeze across north Asia sent LNG soaring more than 200% to record highs.

From Reuters

In February, Texas was paralyzed for more than four days by a deep freeze that shut down power plants and disabled natural gas pipelines.

From Seattle Times

The agency also highlighted that the first six months of 2021 had brought eight billion dollar weather disasters including severe storms, flooding events, a winter storm with a deep freeze and the heat wave-influenced drought.

From Fox News