cold

• (UK )
  • (Received Pronunciation ) IPA ^(key): /kəʊld/, [khɔʊ̯ɫd], [khɒʊ̯ɫd]
    • Audio (Received Pronunciation ): (file)
  • (Standard Southern British ) IPA ^(key): /kɔwld/, [khɔw(ɫ)d]
    • Audio (London ); [khɔwd]: (file)
  • (Scotland ) IPA ^(key): /kold/, [khoɫd]
  • (Wales , without the toe–tow merger ) IPA ^(key): /kould/, [khou̯ɫd]
  • (Northumbria ) IPA ^(key): /kaːd/, /kaʊld/
• (Canada, US )
  • (General American ) enPR: kold, IPA ^(key): /koʊld/
    • Audio (General American ): (file)
  • (Northwestern US , Canada ) IPA ^(key): /kɔːld/
• (New Zealand ) IPA ^(key): /kaʉld/, [khɒʊ̯(ɫ)d]
• Homophone: coaled
• Rhymes: -əʊld

Inherited from Middle English cold , from Anglian Old English cald . The West Saxon form, ċeald ("cold"), survived as early Middle English cheald , cheld , or chald .^[1] Both descended from Proto-West Germanic *kald , from Proto-Germanic *kaldaz ("cold"), a participle form of *kalaną ("to be cold, to freeze"), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- ("to be cold, to freeze").

cold (comparative colder , superlative coldest )

1. (of a thing) Having a low temperature.

   Synonyms: chilled , chilly , freezing , frigid , glacial , icy , cool ; see also Thesaurus:cold

   Antonyms: baking , boiling , heated , hot , scorching , searing , torrid , warm ; see also Thesaurus:hot, Thesaurus:warm

   A cold wind whistled through the trees.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, [...] (King James Version), London: [...] Robert Barker, [...], →OCLC, Proverbs 25:25:

     As cold waters to a thirstie soule: so is good newes from a farre countrey.

   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, "Stave Four. The Last of the Spirits.", in A Christmas Carol. [...], London: Chapman & Hall, [...], →OCLC, page 137:

     Oh cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command: for this is thy dominion!

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter V, in Jeeves in the Offing , London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     I had always supposed that playboys didn't give a hoot for anything except blondes and cold bottles.

2. (of the weather) Causing the air to be cold.

   Synonyms: (UK, slang) brass monkeys , nippy , parky , taters

   Antonyms: hot ; see also Thesaurus:hot

   The forecast is that it will be very cold today.

   • 1904, Owen Felltham, William Henry Oliphant Smeaton, Resolves:

     As fruits of hotter countries, transearthed in colder climates, have vigour enough in themselves to be fructuous according to their nature: but, that they are hindered by the chilling nips of the air, and the soil, wherein they are planted.

   • 2022 March 25, Rachel Ramirez and Hafsa Khalil, "Antarctic ice shelf nearly the size of Los Angeles collapsed as temperatures soared to 40 above normal", in CNN ‎^[1] :

     Antarctica is the coldest, iciest place on Earth, which makes the recent warming event particularly worrying for many scientists. [...] Larter said this happens less frequently in the East Antarctic because the ocean water there is much colder.

   • 2024 January 13, Ashley R. Williams, "NFL moves Pittsburgh at Buffalo playoff game to Monday due to winter storm, Miami at Kansas City is still on for tonight", in CNN ‎^[2] :

     The current high temperature expected for Kansas City on Saturday is around 5 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, which would be the coldest high temperature on record in the area for the date, according to CNN Weather. [...] But could it become cold enough for officials to cancel the showdown between the Chiefs and Dolphins?

3. (of a person or animal) Feeling the sensation of coldness, especially to the point of discomfort.

   Antonyms: hot ; see also Thesaurus:hot

   She was so cold she was shivering.

4. Unfriendly ; emotionally distant or unfeeling.

   Synonyms: aloof , distant , hostile , standoffish , unfriendly , unwelcoming ; see also Thesaurus:aloof

   Antonyms: amiable , friendly , welcoming

   She shot me a cold glance before turning her back.

   • 1850, T. S. Arthur, "Happy on a Little", in Sketches of Life and Character‎^[3] , Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, →OCLC, page 89:

     At the end of a week, she could bear the suspense no longer, and so went humbly to her old home and sought forgiveness. She was not repulsed, but her reception was cold; and this hurt her almost as badly.

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VII, in Jeeves in the Offing , London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     "Suppose someone pops in?" "Don't be silly. Mrs Cream is working on her book. Phyllis is in her room, typing Upjohn's speech. Wilbert's gone for a walk. Upjohn isn't here. The only character who could pop in would be the Brinkley Court ghost. If it does, give it a cold look and walk through it. That'll teach it not to come butting in where it isn't wanted, ha ha."

5. Chilled , filled with an uncomfortable sense of fear, dread, or alarm.

   Synonym: apprehensive

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], "Canto XL", in In Memoriam , London: Edward Moxon, [...], →OCLC, page 63:

     Yet oft when sundown skirts the moor
     ⁠An inner trouble I behold,
     ⁠A spectral doubt which makes me cold,
     That I shall be thy mate no more, [...]

6. Dispassionate ; not prejudiced or partisan; impartial.

   Synonyms: disinterested , indifferent ; see also Thesaurus:impartial

   Let's look at this tomorrow with a cold head.

   He's a nice guy, but the cold facts say we should fire him.

   The cold truth is that states rarely undertake military action unless their national interests are at stake.

7. Completely unprepared; without introduction.

   Synonyms: unprepared , unready

   Antonyms: prepared , primed , ready

   He was assigned cold calls for the first three months.

   • 2019, Kelly D. Harrison, Air Force Cop: An Autobiography, page 100:

     The one thing considered the brass ring in selling insurance was making a sale on a cold canvass. Cold canvassing was the most dreaded exercise for most insurance salesmen.

8. Unconscious or deeply asleep; deprived of the metaphorical heat associated with life or consciousness.

   I knocked him out cold.

   After one more beer he passed out cold.

   • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     Before Mr Big could utter another word, Dad’s false leg crashed down through the window... ...and the wooden foot bashed Mr Big hard on the head. The crime boss collapsed to the floor, out cold.

9. (usually with "have" or "know" transitively) Perfectly, exactly, completely; by heart; down pat.

   Practice your music scales until you know them cold.

   Try both these maneuvers until you have them cold and can do them in the dark without thinking.

   Rehearse your lines until you have them down cold.

   Keep that list in front of you, or memorize it cold.

10. (usually with "have" transitively) Cornered ; done for.

    With that receipt, we have them cold for fraud.

    Criminal interrogation. Initially they will dream up explanations faster than you could ever do so, but when they become fatigued, often they will acknowledge that you have them cold.

    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIX, in Jeeves in the Offing , London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

      "Either Upjohn agrees to drop that libel suit or he doesn't get these notes, as he calls them, and without them he won't be able to utter a word. He'll have to come across with the price of the papers. Won't he, Jeeves?"
      "He would appear to have no alternative, miss."
      "Unless he wants to get up on that platform and stand there opening and shutting his mouth like a goldfish. We've got him cold."

11. (slang ) Cool, impressive.
    • 2023 May 1, Paolo Songco, "Warriors star Steph Curry's cold 'night night' pic vs. Kings goes completely viral", in ClutchPoints‎^[4] , archived from the original on 30 May 2023:

      There were more than a few unforgettable moments from Sunday's Game 7 showdown between the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings. Steph Curry came up with an epic performance on a record-setting evening, and he also produced one of the coldest photos of the NBA Playoffs thus far.

    • 2023 August 3, @67x4L, Twitter ‎^[5] , archived from the original on 9 November 2023:

      Lowkey she so cold for that

    • 2023 August 6, @SUPERTHYROID, Twitter ‎^[6] , archived from the original on 8 November 2023:

      Indians see this fit and think it's the coldest thing ever

12. (obsolete ) Not pungent or acrid.

    Synonyms: mild , neutral

    • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], "(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)", in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. [...], London: [...] William Rawley  [...]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee [...], →OCLC:

      cold plants

13. (obsolete ) Unexciting ; dull; uninteresting.

    Synonyms: colourless , lifeless ; see also Thesaurus:boring

    • 1641, Ben Jonson, Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter‎^[7] :

      What a deal of cold business doth a man misspend the better part of life in!

    • 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: [...] Jacob Tonson, [...], →OCLC:

      The jest grows cold[...]when it comes on in a second scene.

14. Affecting the sense of smell (as of hunting dogs) only feebly; having lost its odour.

    a cold scent

15. (obsolete ) Not sensitive; not acute.
    • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, "The Winters Tale", in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [...] (First Folio), London: [...] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

      Smell this business with a sense as cold / As is a dead man's nose.

16. Distant; said, in the game of hunting for some object, of a seeker remote from the thing concealed. Compare warm and hot .

    You're cold ... getting warmer ... hot! You've found it!

17. (painting ) Having a bluish effect; not warm in colour.

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:bluish

18. (databases ) Rarely used or accessed, and thus able to be relegated to slower storage.
19. (informal ) Without compassion; heartless; ruthless.

    Synonyms: cold-eyed , frosty , icy , uncompassionate ; see also Thesaurus:stern

    I can't believe she said that...that was cold!

    • 2011 April 23, The Impossible Astronaut (Doctor Who), season series 6, episode 1:

      River Song: (upon seeing the still-living Doctor, moments after he made her and two other friends watch what they thought was his death) This is cold. Even by your standards, this is cold.

    • 2015, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain , volume 3, page 237:

      "At the risk of sounding cold though, I'm glad he's gone. His abandonment left me in Aunt Fara's custody, and that's honestly the best thing he's ever done for me."

20. (informal ) Not radioactive. [from the 20^thc.]

    Antonyms: hot , radioactive

    • 1953, Philip K. Dick, "Planet for Transients", in Fantastic Universe magazine‎^[8] , number Oct-Nov 1953, page 64:

      "That's right," Jackson said. "The Old Man will be pleased to welcome you." There was eagerness in his reedy voice. "What do you say? We'll take care of you. Feed you, bring you cold plants and animals. For a week maybe?"

21. (firearms ) Not loaded with a round of live ammunition.
22. Without electrical power being supplied.

    Synonym: dead

    • 1956, Philco Corporation, Handbook of Test Methods and Practices, page 3–3:

      Therefore, to avoid unnecessary delay in the trouble-shooting procedure, it is good practice to make a resistance check on a "cold" circuit (before applying power), to determine whether resistance values are normal.

• Sranan Tongo: kowru
  • Aukan: koo

Inherited from Middle English cold , colde , from Old English cald , ċeald ("cold, coldness"), from Proto-West Germanic *kald , from Proto-Germanic *kaldą ("coldness"), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- ("cold").

cold (countable and uncountable , plural colds )

1. (uncountable ) A condition of low temperature.
   • 1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 318:

     When the water subsided, the people followed the ebbing tide down the sides of the mountains; but the trees were all gone, and having no firewood they perished of cold.

   Come in, out of the cold.

2. (with 'the', figurative ) A harsh place; a place of abandonment.

   The former politician was left out in the cold after his friends deserted him.

3. (countable , pathology ) A common, usually harmless, usually viral illness, usually with congestion of the nasal passages and sometimes fever.

   I caught a miserable cold and had to stay home for a week

   • 2016 September 16, Hailey Middlebrook, "Should you really feed a cold and starve a fever?", in CNN ‎^[9] :

     Dr. Jon S. Abramson, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Wake Forest Medical School, has found no medical evidence to support feeding a cold and starving a fever. He is particularly offended by the latter part of the phrase. [...] "Always feed both colds and fevers," Abramson said.

4. (uncountable , slang ) Rheum ; sleepy dust.
   • 1994, Notorious B.I.G., Warning‎^[10] :

     Who the fuck is this, pagin' me at 5:46 in the morning? / crack of dawn and now I'm yawnin' / wipe the cold out my eye, see who's this pagin' me and why

   • 1996, Ghostface Killah, All That I Got Is You‎^[11] :

     But I remember this, moms would lick her finger tips / to wipe the cold out my eye before school with her spit

• (low temperature): coldness
• (illness): common cold , coryza , head cold , pose

• freeze , frost