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]
(..) Come on, come sit down. Now listen. l got into this business at age ten. Back then, we didn't have fancy machines. Movies were silent. You turned the projector by hand... with a crank. The whole livelong day! And it was hard, that damn crank. (..)1988 Cinema Paradiso