Meanings
fridge1
plural fridges · alternative 'fridge · alternative frig
- informalA refrigerator.First known use 1920s
Sweet broccolini with tofu, sesame, and cilantro […] First, marinate the tofu. In a bowl, whisk the soy sauce, chile sauce, and sesame oil together. Cut the tofu into strips about ⅜ inch / 1 cm thick, mix gently (so it doesn't break) with the marinade, and leave in the fridge for half an hour.
2008, Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi, “Vegetables, Legumes, and Grains”, in Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, New York, N.Y.: Ten Speed Press, published 2013, →ISBN
present singular third person fridges · participle present fridging · participle past fridged · past fridged
- informaltransitiveTo place (something) inside a refrigerator to chill; to refrigerate.
He munched and sipped, wished the soda was cold. Should have fridged it.
2013, Jeffery Deaver, chapter 27, in The October List […], New York, N.Y.; Boston, Mass.: Grand Central Publishing, →ISBN2 more examples
I had turned up with a bottle, which the hostess, Celia, had duly fridged, but everyone else had opted for camomile tea, making me feel like the biggest lush in south London.
2007, Lucy Diamond [pseudonym; Sue Mongredien], Any Way You Want Me, London: Pan Books, →ISBN, page 201If you don't have two [baking] stones, bake it in two different batches, fridging your remaining doughs whilst you wait.
2013, James Morton, “Advanced Yeasted Breads”, in Brilliant Bread, London: Ebury Press, →ISBN, page 134, column 2 - slangtransitivelifestyleTo gratuitously kill, disempower, or otherwise remove (a character, usually female) from a narrative, often strictly to hurt another character (usually male) and motivate vengeance.
In terms of villains, familiar characters haven't been fridged but they've been rather sexualized.
2014, Tim Hanley, “The Mundane Modern Age”, in Wonder Woman Unbound: The Curious History of the World’s Most Famous Heroine, Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review Press, →ISBN, part 3 (The Bronze Age), page 2403 more examples
The backing cast are also all excellent, as expected considering the calibre of actors attached to the film – Andrea Riseborough is a very good example, playing a fascinating cop who really didn't deserve to be ‘fridged’ (meaning: removed from the action so that the men can do their manly things).
2013 April 26, Siobhan Whitebread, “Welcome to the Punch: A Little Less Conversation [film review]”, in Sophie Harrison, editor, Spark*: The University of Reading’s Student Newspaper, volume 63, number 1, Reading, Berkshire: Reading University Students’ Union, →OCLC, page 15, column 5Gwen [Stacy] dying is as big a part of Spider-Man's storyline as Uncle Ben dying. But originally, she was fridged, long before that was a thing. Gwen was something of a pretty nonentity in the comics, her death really only served the purpose of hurting Peter. She died a victim, yanked around by other characters.
2014 June 1, Dave Van Domelen, “Dave’s Capsules for May 2014”, in alt.toys.transformers (Usenet)There’s more than a hint of fridging to Missandei's death, as she leaves behind a grief-stricken Grey Worm along with Daenerys [Targaryen].
2019 May 5, Danette Chavez, “Campaigns are Waged On and Off the Game Of Thrones Battlefield (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 28 Jan 2021
fridge2
present singular third person fridges · participle present fridging · participle past fridged · past fridged
- UKarchaicdialectaltransitiveTo chafe or rub (something).
The town spread upwards before them, smoking vaguely in the midday glare, fridging the crest away to the south with spires and factory bulks and chimneys.
1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Early Married Life of the Morels”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, part I, page 201 more example
A Man's body and his mind, with the utmoſt reverence to both I ſpeak it, are exactly like a jerkin, and a jerkin's lining;—rumple the one—you rumple the other. There is one certain exception however in this caſe, and that is, when you are ſo fortunate a fellow, as to have had your jerkin made of a gum-taffeta, and the body-lining to it, of a ſarcenet or thin perſian. […] [Y]ou might have rumpled and crumpled, and doubled and creaſed, and fretted and fridged the outſides of them all to pieces;—in ſhort, you might have played the very devil with them, and at the ſame time, not one of the inſides of 'em would have been one button the worſe, for all you had done to them.
1761, [Laurence Sterne], chapter IV, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume III, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, pages 13–15 - intransitiveobsoleteTo chafe or rub.
Synonyms & antonyms
verbSynonym of fidge (“to jostle or shake; to fidget, to fig, to frig”).
More synonyms by meaning
nouna refrigerator in which the coolant is pumped around by an electric motor
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
fridge · noun, verb
The noun is a clipping of refrigerator, perhaps influenced by the Frigidaire brand of refrigerators, or frigerator (“(dated) refrigerator”). The spelling is likely influenced by analogy with bridge, ridge, etc. The verb is derived from the noun. The fandom slang verb sense alludes to the phrase "women in refrigerators" coined by the American comic book writer Gail Simone. Simone was referencing a plot point in Green Lantern (volume 3, issue 54, 1994), in which the Green Lantern's girlfriend is murdered by a villain, and her body placed in a refrigerator for him to find.
Full word history & related roots →fridge · verb
Probably imitative of the sound of chafing or rubbing.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French frigo
- frigorefrigerator — see also refrigerator
Greek ψυγείο
- ψυγείο (psygeío)refrigerator — see also refrigerator
Hungarian frigó
- frigórefrigerator — see also refrigerator
Polish lodówka
- lodówkarefrigerator — see also refrigerator
Scottish Gaelic frids
- fridsrefrigerator — see also refrigerator
Spanish frigo, refri
- frigorefrigerator — see also refrigerator
- refrirefrigerator — see also refrigerator
- frigiderrefrigerator — see also refrigerator
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with fridge
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
fridge. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fridge
“fridge.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fridge. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fridge,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fridge.
Source: fridge on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.