Give someone the cold shoulder
"To deliberately treat someone with unfriendly indifference."
Sir Walter Scott is the first writer we can find using this phrase in print, in his 1816 novel The Antiquary. The idea is that an unwelcome guest would be served a cold shoulder of mutton, a cheap, unceremonious leftover, instead of a hot meal, as a not-so-subtle hint that they'd overstayed their welcome. It's often repeated as settled fact, but historians have never found documentary proof that this was an actual dining custom rather than an image Scott simply invented for effect.
Myth vs. FactIt's frequently stated as historical fact that this was a real, widespread custom. In truth, Scott's novel is the earliest evidence we have. He may have been drawing on a genuine practice, or he may have coined a vivid figure of speech that later got mistaken for social history.
Sources: Sir Walter Scott, The Antiquary (1816).
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