verb (used with object), re·frig·er·at·ed, re·frig·er·at·ing.
- to make or keep cold or cool, as for preservation.
verb
- to make or become frozen or cold, esp for preservative purposes; chill or freeze
1530s, back-formation from refrigeration, or else from Latin refrigeratus, past participle of refrigerare “make cool or cold.” Related: Refrigerated; refrigerating. Earlier words in the same sense of “to make cold, to cool” were infrigiden, infrigidate (both early 15c.).