icy

• icey (rare)
• ycie (obsolete)

ice +‎ -y; cf. Old English īsiġ.

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɪsi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪsi

icy (comparative icier, superlative iciest)

1. Pertaining to, resembling, or abounding in ice; cold; frosty.
   • 1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 342:

     To go through this experience in bitter winter weather and stumble along the line in the pitch darkness at 6 o'clock in the morning, into an icy-cold foundry, as was the writer's experience, was not too good.

2. Covered with ice, wholly or partially.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

     With milke-white Hartes vpon an Iuorie ſled,
     Thou ſhalt be drawen amidſt the froſen Pooles,
     And ſcale the yſie mountaines lofty tops:
     Which with thy beautie will be soone reſolu’d.

3. Characterized by coldness of manner; frigid; cold.
   • 2009, Sharon Kendrick, The Desert Princes Bundle: The Sheikh's English Bride

     Gone was the gleam of desire, and the teasingly provocative remarks, and Alexa realised the truth in the saying that indifference was death. His demeanour was haughty and icy towards her.

4. (US, slang) To be wearing an excessive amount of jewelry, especially of the high-quality and expensive kind.
   • 2003, Curtis Jackson, Marshall Mathers, Luis Resto, Mike Elizondo (lyrics), “Patiently Waiting”, in Get Rich or Die Tryin', performed by 50 Cent:

     Your bitch's a regular bitch, you're calling her wifey, I fucked her, I feed her fast food, you're keeping her icy.

• icily
• iciness

• icy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• icy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

• CyI

icy

1. here

• French: ici