I. chill 1 /tʃɪl/ BrE AmE noun
1 . [singular] a feeling of coldness:
There was a slight chill in the air.
morning/autumnal/January etc chill
Suddenly aware of the morning chill, she closed the window.
chill of
He sat in the chill of the evening, staring out over the city below.
I turned on the heater in the hall to take the chill off the house (=to heat it slightly) .
2 . [countable] a sudden feeling of fear or worry, especially because of something cruel or violent:
The sound of his dark laugh sent a chill through her.
chill of fear/apprehension/disquiet etc
Fay felt a chill of fear as she watched Max go off with her daughter.
There was something in his tone that sent a chill down Melissa’s spine (=made her very frightened) .
3 .
a) [countable] an illness which causes a slight fever, headache, and ↑ shiver ing (=slight shaking of the body) :
Let’s get these wet clothes off you before you catch a chill.
b) [countable usually plural] a feeling of being cold, caused by being ill
II. chill 2 BrE AmE verb
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Origin: chile 'coldness' (11-15 centuries) , from Old English cele ]
1 . [intransitive and transitive] if you chill something such as food or drink, or if it chills, it becomes very cold but does not freeze:
a glass of chilled white wine
Spoon the mixture into a bowl and chill for two hours.
The longer this salad chills, the better the flavour.
2 . [intransitive] ( also chill out ) informal to relax completely instead of feeling angry, tired, or nervous:
‘Hold it! Just chill for a second, won’t you!’
I spent the afternoon chilling out in front of the TV.
3 . [transitive] to make someone very cold:
The wind blew across her body, chilling her wet skin.
chilled to the bone/marrow (=extremely cold)
Come and sit by the fire – you look chilled to the bone.
4 . [transitive] literary to suddenly frighten someone, especially by seeming very cruel or violent:
The anger in his face chilled her.
chill somebody to the bone/chill somebody to the marrow/chill sb’s blood (=frighten somebody a lot)
He jerked his head round and saw something that chilled his blood.
III. chill 3 BrE AmE adjective [usually before noun]
unpleasantly cold:
the chill night air
a chill wind