Plural of refrigerator; electrical appliances that keep food cold and fresh by removing heat.
From 'refrigerate,' Latin 'refrigerare'—'re-' (again) + 'frigerare' (to make cold). The modern electric refrigerator was invented in the late 1800s, and the word became common in the 1900s.
Before electric refrigerators (1920s onward), families used 'ice boxes' filled with blocks of ice delivered by trucks—the shift from ice to electric cooling transformed how we eat and shop forever!
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