Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus.) to suffer from the cold.

1882		Carcoar Chronicle (NSW) 10 June 2/4: When I last wrote I was enjoying a good frizzling from the heat [...] but now I am doing a freeze - not very enjoyable.
1895		Sun. Times (Perth) 22 Dec. 4/3: If Mr. Borchgrevink is desperately anxious to ‘do a freeze’ at the South Pole he must secure the necessary financing in London.
1900		S. Aus. Register 12 July 5/5: The train got up and we were put in a cold storage truck [...] with battens on the floor, and with about one rug to two nen. There we did a freeze all night, and our wounds ached very much.
1915		Dly News (Perth) 18 Jan. 5/2: The first two nights we had only the two blankets we were issued with on board ship, and we did a freeze all night.
1922		Grenfell Record (NSW) 13 July 2/6: There was a heavy frost, and the night bitterly cold [...] Those who were left waiting did a freeze, as what little wood was to be found was covered with frost.
1934		Nambucca & Bellinger News (NSW) 25 May 3: [advert] MEN'S HATS, OVERCOATS and SPORTS: TROUSERS in well stocked assortment. PULLOVERS and CARDIGANS in a wide range of Designs and Colors. [...] , SO INSTEAD OF DOING A FREEZE, CALL IN AND SEE RICHARD MALOUF The Boss Draper.
1943		Australasian (Melbourne) 3 Apr. 10/1: Trainees come from initial training schools in other States in most cases. Until they are acclimated (dreadful word) they ‘do a freeze’ at this very cold RAAF station.
1950		Advertiser (Adelaide) 16 June 2/5: Hobart is having its longest spell of frosts since 1937. Other parts of Tasmania are also ‘doing a freeze’ and stories of ice-bound water taps, burst mains and frozen pools and lakes have ceased to be news.
1960		Aus. Women’s Wkly 13 July 55/6: They don't realise we stretch from the tropical regions down to the Antarctic—that I could be swimming in Queensland right now or doing a freeze in Melbourne.

2. (Aus.) of a show or performance, to fail to attract an audience.

1888		Punch (Melbourne) 16 Aug. 133/1: ? On this line (the southern) there have been too many shows lately. [...] Florrie Russell, Mrs. Hydes (Miss Madge Herrick) and Miss Melrose, is going back into Victoria after?? doing a freeze round here. They played ‘East Lynne’ here last Wednesday, but as Clara Stephenson had played the watering-pot piece only three or four days before, the result was a £4 house .
1905		Punch (Melbourne) 2 Nov. 37/1: Many of the members of the American vaudeville company which recently struck New Zealand and did a ‘freeze’ had to pay their own fares hack to ’Frisco.
1908		Windsor & Richmond Gaz. (NSW) 8 Aug. 8/1: Fred Millie, now regarded as the world’s greatest ventriloquist, with a constant engagement at London theatres, did a freeze in Windsor, and left in a hurry.
1918		Sun (Kalgoorlie, WA) 5 May 6/3: Business manager Harry Scales wears a much broader smile than on the last visit of the Dandies, when the show did a freeze. Business is good this time.
1927		Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) 19 Mar. 2/5: The change of dates affected us [i.e. a touring Shakespeare company] badly at that town, and we did a ‘freeze’.
1929		Molong Express (NSW) 2 Mar. 13/1: Evening Whispers [...] That another travelling company did ‘a freeze’ here this week.
1930		Border Star (Coolangatta, Qld) 9 Jan. 5/6: They Say [...] That a number of side shows in the Twin Towns did a ‘freeze’ during operations.

3. (Aus.) to abstain.

1910

Truth (Perth) 1 Oct. 10/8: Them as has got lots of rhino, / They can boose up as they please / But the other bloomin’ feller, / He have got to do a freeze.

4. (Aus./N.Z.) to ignore or be ignored.

1928		Nat. Advocate (Bathurst, NSW) 25 Aug. 8/1: Mr. R. T. Ball [...] did a freeze in Bathurst on Thursday night, when he addressed an audience of seven persons [...] The meeting was to have been held in the hall, but owing to the paucity of the attendance an adjournment was made.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 30: Do a freeze, to be overlooked, ignored.
1946		D. Stivens Courtship of Uncle Henry 46: I’m doing a freeze.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.

5. (Aus.) to monitor admissions to an event (the image being of standing in a chilly doorway).

1922		Wyalong Advocate (NSW) 14 July 11/1: Mr Andrew O’Neill did a freeze at the door in the interests of a healthv balance sheet.
1942		Biz (Fairfield, NSW) 11 June 6/5: The evening went, along with a swing. Mrs Langworthy (social secretary) had charge of the ticket office, and Mr. R. Clarke again ‘did a freeze’ at the door.

6. (Aus.) to leave.

1934		Sun. Times (Perth) 21 Jan. 11/8: They who had heard the bell, and then attended, / Crept on their knees away, did a swift freeze away, / Like mice from cheese away, in terror blended.
1943		Lachlander and Condobolin Recorder (NSW) 4 Jan. 3/4: So I watched him from the door and did a freeze.

1. to snub, to ignore, to reject.

1954		J. Thompson Swell-Looking Babe 11: He’d put a freeze on her that would give her pneumonia.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 329: She put the freeze on her, giving her fewer and fewer story assigments.

2. (US) to stop.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 251: put the freeze on Discontinue.