Green’s Dictionary of Slang

ice v.

1. to conclude [SE to put the icing on the cake].

(a) to ensure victory, orig. in a sporting contest.

[US]N.Y. Globe 1 May in Fleming Unforgettable Season (1981) 58: The Giants ought to have had yesterday’s game done up and iced.
[US]N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 24: You get yourself trued up [...] ’n you’ll ice that boogie for sure.
[US]W.D. Myers Outside Shot 171: [A]t the end of the game it had been Larson who had iced it for us.
[US]Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 247: R.C. goes to the top of the key, where he ices his victory.

(b) to complete, to round off.

in Quest 80 Oct. 49: Its celebrity was iced with a controversial National Book Award in 1972.
[US]C. Hiaasen Lucky You 330: By lunchtime the deal was iced at an even three one.
[UK]N. Barlay Hooky Gear 232: He not only want a couple bangups under his little red balls, he want to ice it all off with his extra, his hooky chips.

2. (US) to pay bribes or protection money; thus icing-off n. [ice n.1 (1)].

[US] in Sat. Eve. Post 22 May 90: Able to furnish protection to their patrons without ‘icing’ the police [HDAS].
[US](con. c.1900) J. Thompson King Blood (1989) 25: Ray got them out of it, but not without an ‘icing-off’ of the law (the payment of bribes).

3. to reject, to ignore.

(a) (US, also ice out) to snub, to treat coldly; thus icing n.

[US]L. Berg Prison Doctor 258: He glad hands me [...] I’m leery and ices him.
[US]Harper’s Mag. July 66: When a lady is down and out and getting herself dumped from someone’s guest list there, it is not the same as getting herself iced out in New York.
[US]Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 4: ice – ignore, pay little attention to: I’m mad at Bob so I ice him.
[US]Rebennack & Rummel Under A Hoodoo Moon 134: I was already iced out of the picture when I finally got to see what was happening.
[UK]N. Barlay Hooky Gear 198: Out his silence come a sort of de-icin of his attitude, a sort of mental rollin out of the big red 2-grand kilim carpet.
[US]G.M. Graff Watergate 233: The Nixon team was secretive and iced him out even before the Times imbroglio over the Pentagon Papers, leaving him to get scrappy to find information.

(b) (US black) to reject, to turn down, to cease.

[US]P. Crump Burn, Killer, Burn! 226: Let’s ice that action for tonight.

(c) to break an appointment with, to abandon or cancel a plan or scheme.

[UK]M. Amis London Fields 162: That’s why I iced Guy. To concentrate on Keith.
[US]P. Munro Sl. U. 90: get iced to get stood up, get let down.

4. to isolate.

(a) (US Und., also ice down) to imprison.

[US]Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
[US]J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 151: If they iced down everybody who smoked a couple of lids a week they’d have half of Hollywood in the cooler.

(b) (US prison) to place in solitary confinement.

[US]B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 156: Let’s ice this tramp ’cause on the nigger camp / somebody would surely get killed.

(c) to hide.

[UK]J. Mowry Way Past Cool 210: ‘You figure Tunk tell Wes bout our chrome gun?’ [...] ‘Don’t know. But best we be keepin it iced long’s we can.’.

5. to attack physically.

(a) to murder, to kill.

[US]D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 73: It is not nearly as nice as icing Buttsy for them.
[US] ‘Death Row’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 118: In making my exit, I iced a cop.
[US]S. Yurick Warriors (1966) 41: If the police didn’t chill them, the racket boys would ice them.
[US]E. Bunker Animal Factory 12: You’ll ice the first bastard who fucks with you.
[US]R. Campbell Alice in La-La Land (1999) 59: He goes off like a rocket every time he ices somebody.
[US]S. Morgan Homeboy 119: She told me she watched you ice Gloria Monday.
[UK]J. Cameron Brown Bread in Wengen [ebook] They were so leery now they never cared they iced me in the Pizza Hut.
[US]J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 273: You can’t shake him, ’cause after you pull a couple jobs, you know too much. You try to split, he’ll ice you.
[US]C. Goffard Snitch Jacket 190: They burn the Head! And then we ice the Gecko!
[UK]G. Knight Hood Rat 158: I want you to ice someone for £15,000 [...] No one you know.
[US]L. Berney Whiplash River [ebook] ‘Sticky Jimmy tried to have you iced because of me’.
[US]T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] ‘Ice Frankie and all is forgiven’.
[US]T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 177: [T]heir order was to ice Desmarteaux.

(b) to hit, to knock out.

[US]N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 12: He’d ice the jig with a punch.
[US]L. Stavsky et al. A2Z 52/2: ice – v. to punch someone in the face.
[US]Insane Clown Posse ‘My Fun House’ 🎵 A joker’s card / Sorry, bitch, the luck of the draw / Violent J’s gonna have to ice your jaw.

(c) in fig. use, to harm, to cause trouble for.

[US]V.E. Smith Jones Men 130: This damn near ices my ass.
[UK]J. Mowry Six Out Seven (1994) 35: You play, you pay or I ice your black ass!
[UK]Guardian Guide 18–24 Sept. 5: Hiding behind the sofa [...] to avoid being ‘iced by the IRA. They’s crazy motherfuckers!’.

In phrases

ice down (v.)

1. (US black) to snub, to treat dismissively.

D. Burley in Chicago Defender 14 Mar. 11: She could ice a guy down until he felt as though entire friggid [sic] zone of Artic Circle had enveloped him.

2. see sense 4a above.

ice out (v.)

see sense 3a above.

In exclamations

ice that!

(US black) stop that! calm down!

[US]H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: ice that! an imperative to reduce in intensity.