cold storage

the storage of food, furs, etc., in an artificially cooled place.

a condition of suspension of action or activity; abeyance.

Origin of cold storage

First recorded in 1890–95

But I'll bet all the cold-storage eggs in the hotel against the henyard—and that's big odds—that he wa'n't christened Robinson.

The Depot Master |Joseph C. Lincoln
The question of cold-storage facilities for the camps offered a knotty problem.

America's Munitions 1917-1918 |Benedict Crowell
McKettrick looked like a man who had come out of a warm bath into a cold-storage room.

Scattergood Baines |Clarence Budington Kelland
They were more frightened than hurt, but complained loudly at being placed in a cold-storage of hailstones.

Crossing the Plains, Days of '57 |William Audley Maxwell

They were the nearest to cold-storage newly-weds that I had ever seen.

The Trail of Conflict |Emilie Baker Loring

cold storage

the storage of things in an artificially cooled place for preservation

informal a state of temporary suspension to put an idea into cold storage

cold storage

see in cold storage.