freeze-out, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

freeze-out n.

1. (orig. US) the act of deliberately excluding someone; sometimes the person excluded.

1875		Scribner’s Monthly X 277/1: ‘Cleano out,’ ‘freeze out,’ are synonyms for rascally operations in business [DA].
1906		S. Ford Shorty McCabe 166: I began to get a glimmer of the kind of game she was up against. Talk about freeze-outs!
1922		P.A. Rollins Cowboy 80: Poker gave also, among other terms, [...] ‘freeze-out’.
1958		F. Norman Bang To Rights 123: The best way is to give them the old freeze out before they get a chance to row themselves onto the firm.
1973		J. Wambaugh Onion Field 118: A few nice lookin broads was hangin around [...] but they give me the ol freeze out.

2. (US) a situation that offers no opportunities, e.g. for theft.

1996

(con. 1949) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 207: Buchner liked the place, even if it was a freeze-out on nights like this.

freeze-out game (n.)

(orig. US) the act of deliberately excluding someone; sometimes the person excluded.

1863		Washoe Times 11 July 2/5: We never before exactly understood the villainous process of the ‘freeze-out game’ [DA].
1873		Arizona Sentinel (AZ) 27 Sept. 6/2: It seems there is a ‘freeze out’ game going on between the owners, unknown to each other.
1887		Philipsburg Mail (MT) 15 Sept. 4/4: The affair is believed to be a freeze-out game.
1899		Las Vegas Wkly Optic 1 Apr. 4/3: It will be a long freeze-out game.
1900		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 17 Oct. 1/3: Wallace may be right and Wiliams may be wrong; it is the freeze out game the club plays I object to.
1902		‘Hugh McHugh’ It’s Up to You 41: It was the most cruel game of freeze-out I ever sat in.
1912		Day Book (Chicago) 17 Jan. 4/1: The game of ‘freeze-out’ has a new meaning in Minneapolios. A landlord is trying it on his tenant.
1920		Bemidji Dly Pioneer (MN) 11 Jan. 1/2: [headline] Congress Disturbed by Freeze Out Game.
1930		W.R. Burnett Iron Man 298: Lewis played the freeze-out game. He’s got a strong yen for your woman, and he ain’t letting nothing stand in his way. You’re the next freeze-out.
1947		W.A. Chalfant Gold, Guns and Ghost Towns 141: It was just a freeze-out game, and I let my stock go without paying the assessment [DA].