I told him that I thought he was crazy and got 'the silent treatment' for the rest of the day. [=he refused to talk to me for the rest of the day]
You have the 'right to remain silent'. [=the legal right not to say anything when you are arrested]
Whenever she gets mad at me, she 'gives me the silent treatment'. [=she does not speak to me]
(..) We have no context for what it is. Or any appreciation of the scale at which it will be unleashed. A plague? The plague to end all plagues. A silent weapon for a quiet war. The systematic release of an indiscriminate organism for which there is no cure. They've been working on this for years. (..)1998 The X Files