in cold storage—
1. (of a process, project, etc.) temporarily discontinued; held in reserve:
- It seems to be rather a shame that this anthology, which cost me a lot of work should remain indefinitely in cold storage.
2. (sl., of a body) in a mortuary (also: in the ice box):
- Zeno’s body is in cold storage on the Blackvoid! It has been ever since he was originally killed.
in the deep freeze—
1. is used to hyperbolically describe very cold weather:
- Massachusetts is in the deep freeze for the third day; before that it was just cold.
2. = in cold storage 1:
- If something is being postponed indefinitely, use two words: The project is in the deep freeze.
3. (U.S. sl.) in prison:
- She couldn’t stand his foul language any longer so she decided to cool him off for a while by putting him in the deep freeze.
See also: on ice / on thin ice.