The words “cold,” “ice,” and “snow” are common elements of many English idioms, and for good reason. These evocative terms are familiar to anyone who’s experienced winter weather, so the idioms themselves are easy to grasp. But it doesn’t need to be freezing cold outside for you to use these turns of phrase — they’re effective all year.
To give someone the cold shoulder is to provide “intentionally cold or unsympathetic treatment,” and it’s been used in that idiomatic context since 1816. This is one of many examples of “cold” being used to convey a lack of friendliness (e.g., “coldhearted,” “cold as ice,” etc.). Many people find cold weather and cold attitudes to be bitterly unpleasant.
Another common winter idiom is “on thin ice,” meaning “to be in a precarious or risky situation.” According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this colloquialism has been around since 1871 and plays off the idea of stepping onto a frozen body of water and falling through the ice.
There’s also the phrase “tip of the iceberg.” This idiom, in use since 1969, is based on the fact that icebergs are often much larger under the surface of the water than what we can see. The phrase is appropriate for situations where you might see a small part of something without realizing its larger hidden potential.
The phrase “snowball effect,” meanwhile, refers to a situation where one single action causes a bigger chain reaction. It stems from the idea of a snowball rolling down a snowy hill, getting larger as it picks up more snow along the way.
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