Wednesday, June 8, 2011
This combination can be used in good and bad ways.
Example 1: "Having scored its fourth goal, England's victory was on ice." This means victory was preserved.
Example 2: "Once England scored its fourth goal, South Africa was put on ice." This means that the South Africa team was disposed of, and its chances of victory were put out of reach.
Example 3: "The report on police corruption was put on ice by a nervous mayor." This implies that the report in question was permanently placed where the public would not see it.
As you can see, a single idiom can be used in various ways... but the meanings are all similar. It's simply a matter of applying the idiom to the circumstances of the sentence, otherwise known as the context.