I. ˈkōld adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English cald, ceald; akin to Old High German kalt cold, Old Norse kaldr, Gothic kalds, Latin gelu frost, gelare to freeze, congeal
1.
a. : having a temperature notably below an accustomed norm, often notably below that of the human body or below that compatible with human comfort : notably lacking in warmth : having a low temperature
quite cold weather
it was cold yesterday
the rain was very cold now, almost frigid, and they shuddered — Norman Mailer
a cold and drafty hallway
cold arctic seas
have trouble starting with a cold motor
— distinguished from cool
b. : likely to lose heat quickly : likely to feel cool
a cold metallic substance
c. : receptive to the sensation of coldness : stimulated by cold
a cold spot is the typical cold receptor in higher vertebrates
2.
a. : naturally without heat — used in ancient and medieval sciences to describe one of the qualities of the four elements
b. of a sign of the zodiac : having a cold complexion
3.
a. : marked by lack of warm feeling : without ardor, zeal, or sympathy : distant
he's a pretty cold one — Ernest Hemingway
the cold , correct, regular, narrow poetry of Pope — A.L.Kroeber
this novel leaves the reader cold
b. : free from emotion or passion, especially sexual passion : frigid , inhibited
one of the cold kisses that he disliked so much — Archibald Marshall
c. : lacking cordiality, heartiness, friendliness, or affability : unfriendly : forbiddingly reserved : aloof , chilling
his cold , mean, selfish policy toward those whom he liked to segregate and hate as his enemies — W.A.White
the court becomes a cold place for the self-exiled queen — H.O.Taylor
d. : lacking feeling : emotionless , detached , indifferent , apathetic , cold-blooded
the cold neutrality of an impartial judge — Edmund Burke
cold , sullen, unreliable, brusque, unconventional, grasping, a man of iron will — C.L.Jones
e. : feeling or showing no interest, excitement, or sympathy : unenthusiastic
the discouragement of playing to a cold audience
the mawkish appeal left him cold
to his astonishment, he finds the people of his village cold to this noble and time-honored sentiment — Arthur Knight
f. : marked by deliberate intent or plan : not shaped or influenced by passion or strong feeling : activated or executed deliberately
a cold calculated punishing punch in the mouth — John Steinbeck
that a goodly part of the illegal drug supply is grown and processed in China; that it is spread with cold deliberation to other countries — Meyer Berger
g. : unemotionally calculated or calculating : marked by analysis and calculation uninfluenced by warmer feelings : unfeeling
how cold economic considerations and calculations prevail in all matters of international importance — H.W.Van Loon
the cold argument and unhurried process of trial in the courts of law — W.C.Dickinson
4.
a. : previously cooked but served or eaten cold
a cold collation
cold boiled ham
b. : not hot enough : heated insufficiently or permitted to cool
the soup was cold
c. : not heated
stored in a cold cellar
d. : made cold : cooled, iced
cold soft drinks
e. : unheated while being worked
drive rivets cold
a cold -bent iron pipe
cold -forged steel
5.
a. : inducing discouragement : depressing , cheerless , dispiriting , gloomy
a cold correctness in the way he put his bicycle in its place that made her heart sink — D.H.Lawrence
the cold respectability of a Pharisee's dining room — W.L.Sullivan
b. : producing a sensation of cold : chilling
I hold a key in my hand and it is cold — Muriel Rukeyser
cold blank walls
c. of a color : cool ; especially : having a cool hue and low value
6.
a. : dead
lay cold in his coffin — Margaret A. Barnes
b. : unconscious typically from a blow or shock or from complete intoxication : insensible
knocked out cold
pass out cold
c. : completely at one's mercy : without hope of escape : defenseless
you're as good as found guilty because they never crack down unless they have you cold — Polly Adler
d. : marked by complete knowledge or errorless familiarity : certain , sure
the actors had their lines cold a week before the opening night
e. slang : sure to be fulfilled — used of a contract in a card game
7.
a. of a soil : retentive of moisture, often compact and clayey, and responding only slowly to atmospheric temperature changes
b. of a manure : decaying slowly with little evolution of heat
cold pig manure
8. : feeling cold : made uncomfortable by cold — usually used postpositively
the children came back in when they were cold
9. obsolete , of foods : bland , mild : not strong, hot, or pungent
cold plants
10. : lacking power to influence, incite, animate, inspire, impassion, or affect in other ways
the Roman copy is almost inevitably colder, less alive, less emotional, and (above all) less expressive than the Greek — Hunter Mead
a cold traffic of minds and ideas and, for all the melodrama, not a clash of living people — J.R.Newman
a. : faint : not strong ; usually : old and being obscured
dogs trying to follow the cold scent
: retaining only faint scents, traces, or clues
the trail had become cold
b. : stale , uninteresting ; often : having undergone loss of timeliness
the story is now too cold to be newsworthy
c. : old and showing lack of power to communicate
a stenographer trying to transcribe cold notes
d. : not illegal or involved in a crime : not suspect
trading the hot car for a cold one
e. : allowing little or no possibility of contact with radioactivity — used especially of area in a plant or laboratory; opposed to hot
11. : presented or regarded in a straightforward, blunt, or matter-of-fact way : not influenced or relieved by emotional presentation or persuasive appeal : impersonal
competing on a basis of sheer cold efficiency — T.W.Arnold
the cold facts of the case
presenting cold statistics
12.
a. : far from finding, discovering, or solving
b. : marked by poor or unlucky performance
an erratic bowler, sometimes hot, sometimes cold
hot and cold periods even fall … upon writers — C.B.Davis
c. : not in operation : idle
a cold munitions plant in peace times
d. slang , of dice : not producing many passes or results that win for the shooter
13.
a. : marked by lack of preparation, rehearsal, preliminary performance, preliminary exercise or operation, introduction, or knowledge and familiarity
instead of opening cold in New York, all the productions have had a week of preliminary performing in Hartford — Brooks Atkinson
they came here cold , years ago, not knowing many people — J.P.Marquand
a substitute entering the game cold
b. in radio & television : without music or embellishments
a program that comes on cold
cold drama
the salesman had to approach the prospective customer cold
cold selling
14. : certain to be as indicated : assured
a cold five thousand dollars
15. : lacking in thoroughbred blood
a cold cross
16. : designed for use in cutting cold metal
17. : living in or characteristic of a cold environment
the cold fauna of glacial epochs
18.
a. : intense and barely controlled
a cold fury
a cold irritation
b. : checked short of sustained overt violence (as military action) but marked by deep antagonism and conducted with all available economic, political, or social means
a cold pogrom
cold revolution
19.
a. : intended for use without being heated
a cold glue
b. : using or produced by cold type
cold composition
•
- in cold blood
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English cald, from cald, adjective — more at cold
1.
a. : a condition of low temperature : coldness
the cold was intense
b. : cold weather
2. : bodily sensation produced by loss or lack of heat : chill
they groan with pain and shudder with the cold — S.T.Coleridge
3. : a respiratory infection:
a. in man : common cold
to catch cold
he has a cold
b. in domestic animals : coryza b
4. : chill discouragement : a feeling of blended fear, crushing disappointment, shock, depression, or despair
•
- in the cold
- out in the cold
III. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English colden, from (assumed) Old English caldian, cealdian, from cald cold — more at cold
intransitive verb
: to become cold
the nights were colding — Maristan Chapman
transitive verb
: to make cold
cold his blood with the thought of dying — John Masefield
IV. adverb
( -er/-est )
Etymology: cold (I)
1. : with utter finality : in a completely unmitigated way : totally , absolutely
he was stopped cold
be turned down cold
know the answers cold
2. : while cold or without the application of heat — used especially of metalworking processes
cold -hammer a bar of iron
cold -roll steel
cold -swage metal parts
V. adjective
: low in energy and thus having low velocity
cold neutrons
VI. noun
: a state or condition of having a secret identity, mission, or cover — used in the phrase in from the cold
a near-deadly slip … made the game too dangerous and the F.B.I. called him in from the cold — Ralph Blumenthal
also : a state of estrangement, isolation, or neglect