- Cold
- Cold Cold (k[=o]ld), a. [Compar. {Colder} (-[~e]r); superl.
{Coldest}.] [OE. cold, cald, AS. cald, ceald; akin to OS.
kald, D. koud, G. kalt, Icel. kaldr, Dan. kold, Sw. kall,
Goth. kalds, L. gelu frost, gelare to freeze. Orig. p. p. of
AS. calan to be cold, Icel. kala to freeze. Cf. {Cool}, a.,
{Chill}, n.]
1. Deprived of heat, or having a low temperature; not warm or
hot; gelid; frigid. ``The snowy top of cold Olympis.''
--Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. Lacking the sensation of warmth; suffering from the absence of heat; chilly; shivering; as, to be cold. [1913 Webster]
3. Not pungent or acrid. ``Cold plants.'' --Bacon [1913 Webster]
4. Wanting in ardor, intensity, warmth, zeal, or passion; spiritless; unconcerned; reserved. [1913 Webster]
A cold and unconcerned spectator. --T. Burnet. [1913 Webster]
No cold relation is a zealous citizen. --Burke. [1913 Webster]
5. Unwelcome; disagreeable; unsatisfactory. ``Cold news for me.'' ``Cold comfort.'' --Shak. [1913 Webster]
6. Wanting in power to excite; dull; uninteresting. [1913 Webster]
What a deal of cold business doth a man misspend the better part of life in! --B. Jonson. [1913 Webster]
The jest grows cold . . . when in comes on in a second scene. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
7. Affecting the sense of smell (as of hunting dogs) but feebly; having lost its odor; as, a cold scent. [1913 Webster]
8. Not sensitive; not acute. [1913 Webster]
Smell this business with a sense as cold As is a dead man's nose. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
9. Distant; -- said, in the game of hunting for some object, of a seeker remote from the thing concealed. [1913 Webster]
10. (Paint.) Having a bluish effect. Cf. {Warm}, 8. [1913 Webster]
{Cold abscess}. See under {Abscess}.
{Cold blast} See under {Blast}, n., 2.
{Cold blood}. See under {Blood}, n., 8.
{Cold chill}, an ague fit. --Wright.
{Cold chisel}, a chisel of peculiar strength and hardness, for cutting cold metal. --Weale.
{Cold cream}. See under {Cream}.
{Cold slaw}. See {Cole slaw}.
{In cold blood}, without excitement or passion; deliberately. [1913 Webster]
He was slain in cold blood after the fight was over. --Sir W. Scott.
{To give one the cold shoulder}, to treat one with neglect.
Syn: Gelid; bleak; frigid; chill; indifferent; unconcerned; passionless; reserved; unfeeling; stoical. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
