refrigerator

From refrigerate +‎ -or.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈfɹɪd͡ʒəˌɹeɪtə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈfɹɪd͡ʒəˌɹeɪɾɚ/, /ɹəˈfɹɪd͡ʒəˌɹeɪɾɚ/

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refrigerator (plural refrigerators)

An open refrigerator

1. A household appliance used for keeping food fresh by refrigeration (short form fridge).
   • 1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, ch. 11:

     Jo uttered a groan and fell back in her chair, remembering that she had given a last hasty powdering to the berries out of one of the two boxes on the kitchen table, and had neglected to put the milk in the refrigerator.

   • 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):

     An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.

2. A similar device used to keep non-food items cold, such as blood, photographic film, drugs, or pharmaceuticals like insulin.
3. One who has a chilling influence.
   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

     […] in a state of sublime satisfaction, he moves among the company, a magnificent refrigerator.

• chiller
• coolchest
• fridge, frigerator
• icebox

• → Cebuano: ripridyiritor
• → Malayalam: റഫ്രിജറേറ്റർ (ṟaphrijaṟēṟṟaṟ)

(Classical) IPA^(key): /re.friː.ɡeˈraː.tor/, [rɛfriːɡɛˈräːt̪ɔr]

• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /re.fri.d͡ʒeˈra.tor/, [refrid͡ʒeˈräːt̪or]

refrīgerātor

1. second/third-person singular future passive imperative of refrīgerō

Borrowed from French réfrigérateur. Equivalent to refrigera +‎ -tor.

refrigerator n (plural refrigeratoare)

1. refrigerator

   Synonym: frigider