coldness
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cold
(kōld)adj. cold·er, cold·est
1.
a. Having a low temperature: cold water.
b. Being at a temperature that is less than what is required or what is normal: cold oatmeal.
c. Chilled by refrigeration or ice: cold beer.
2.
a. Feeling no warmth; uncomfortably chilled: We were cold sitting by the drafty windows.
b. Appearing to be dead; unconscious: found him out cold on the floor.
c. Dead: was cold in his grave.
3. Lacking emotion; objective: cold logic.
4.
a. Having little appeal to the senses or feelings: a cold decor.
b. Designating or being in a tone or color, such as pale gray, that suggests little warmth.
5.
a. Not affectionate or friendly; aloof: a cold person; a cold nod.
b. Exhibiting or feeling no enthusiasm: a cold audience; a cold response to the new play; a concert that left me cold.
c. Devoid of sexual desire; frigid.
6. Having lost all freshness or vividness through passage of time: dogs attempting to catch a cold scent.
7. So intense as to be almost uncontrollable: cold fury.
8. Characterized by repeated failure, especially in a sport or competitive activity: The team fell into a slump of cold shooting.
adv.
1. To an unqualified degree; totally: was cold sober.
2. With complete finality: We turned him down cold.
3. Without advance preparation or introduction: took the exam cold and passed; walked in cold and got the new job.
n.
Idiom: 1.
a. Relative lack of warmth: Cold slows down chemical reactions.
b. The sensation resulting from lack of warmth; chill.
2. A condition of low air temperature; cold weather: went out into the cold and got a chill.
3. A viral infection characterized by inflammation of the mucous membranes lining the upper respiratory passages and usually accompanied by malaise, fever, chills, coughing, and sneezing. Also called common cold, coryza.
out in the cold
Lacking benefits given to others; neglected.
cold′ly adv.
cold′ness n.
Synonyms: cold, arctic, chilly, cool, frigid, frosty, gelid, glacial, icy
These adjectives mean marked by a low or an extremely low temperature: cold air; an arctic climate; a chilly day; cool water; a frigid room; a frosty morning; gelid seas; glacial winds; icy hands.
These adjectives mean marked by a low or an extremely low temperature: cold air; an arctic climate; a chilly day; cool water; a frigid room; a frosty morning; gelid seas; glacial winds; icy hands.
Antonym: hot
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Coldness
See Also: REMOTENESS, RESERVE
- (There was) a certain coldness, like that of a spinster about her —Boris Pasternak
- Behave exactly like a block of ice —Noël Coward, lyrics for “I’m So In Love”
- The chill in the air was like a constant infinitely small shudder —M. J. Farrell
- (Some laughs are as) cold and meaningless as yesterday’s buckwheat pancake —Josh Billings
In Billings’ phonetic dialect ‘as’ was written as ‘az.’
- Cold as a dead man’s nose —William Shakespeare
- Cold as a fish —American colloquialism, attributed to New England
- Cold as a fish caught through the ice —F. van Wyck Mason
- Cold as a hole in the ice —Bertold Brecht
- (It grew as) cold as a key —Thomas Heywood
- Cold as a lizzard —Walter Savage Landor
In one of Landor’s Conversation pieces, he has Fra Filippo Lippi commenting to Pope Eugenius IV that while an ordinary person could use an expression like “Cold as ice, a true poet would reach for more originality.” The above is one suggestion, “Cold as a lobster” is another.
- Cold as a miser’s heart —Donald Seaman
- [A smile] cold as a moan —Marge Piercy
- Cold as a murder’s heart —Richard Ford
- Cold as an igloo —Reynolds Price
- Cold as any stone —William Shakespeare
- Cold … as a pane of glass —Reynolds Price
- Cold as a snowman’s dick —William H. Gass
- (A kiss) cold as bacon —Joyce Cary
- Cold as charity —Anon
An English phrase in use since the seventeenth century.
- Cold as coldest hell —Sylvia Berkman
In a short story entitled Who Killed Cock Robin, the simile describes a character’s personality and continues as follows: “Cruel to every fingernail, and invariably polite.”
- Cold as dew to dropping leaves —Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Cold as fears —Algernon Charles Swinburne
- (I felt as) cold as Finnegan’s feet (the day they buried him) —Raymond Chandler
- Cold as if I had swallowed snowballs —William Shakespeare
A variation of this snowball simile from The Merry Wives of Windsor is from another Shakespeare play, Pericles: “She sent him away as cold as a snowball.”
- (Your heart would be as heavy and) cold as iron shackles —George Garrett
- Cold as Monday morning’s barrenness —F. D. Reeve
- Cold as moonlight —Yvor Winters
- (Face) cold as newsprint —Philip Levine
- (Eyes) cold as river ice —Davis Grubb
- Cold as snakes —American colloquialism, attributed to Northeast
- (Men) cold as spring water —Julia O’Faolain
- (The wet air was as …) cold as the ashes of love —Raymond Chandler
- Cold as the cold between the stars —Terry Bisson
- Cold as the north side of a grave stone in winter —Proverb
- Cold as the snow —Lewis J. Bates
- Cold as the tomb of Christ —Maxwell Anderson
- Colder than a banker’s heart —William Diehl
- Colder than a dead lamb’s tail —Anon
- Colder than a lawyer’s heart —George V. Higgins
- Colder than a witch’s tits —American colloquialism, attributed to the South
Like many regional expressions that gained national currency during World War II, this one is often referred to as an Army expression.
- (It was) colder than ice —Hans Christian Andersen
Whether used as a pure simile “Cold as ice” or as cited above, the linking of snow and ice to cold has become as “Common as snowflakes in winter.” A story in the January 23, 1987 edition of the New York Times about a planned freedom march in Atlanta was highlighted with a blurb stating “We are going to march if it’s cold as ice … “proving once again that even without a new twist, a simile usually wins the spotlight.
- Cold like a sea mist and as ungraspable —Sylvia Townsend Warner
- Cold [in manner] like Christmas morning —Grace Paley
- The cold was like a sleep —Wallace Stevens
- The cold was like a thick vast sleep —Davis Grubb
- Cool and smooth, like the breath of an air conditioner —T. Coraghessan Boyle
- Cool as a snowbank —Louisa May Alcott
- (Her bare arms and shoulders felt as) cool as marble —Leo Tolstoy
- (Skin) cool as steel —Elizabeth Hardwick
- (Voice) cool as water on shaded rocks —Beryl Markham
- Could feel the cold climbing up his ankles like ships’ rats —Penelope Gilliatt
- Hardened her heart, like God had hardened Pharaoh’s heart against the Jews —Daphne Merkin
The simile was particularly appropriate in Enchantment, a novel about an orthodox Jewish family.
- A heart as cold as English toast —Harry Prince
- It [television show] was hard as fiberglass —Norman Mailer
- My flesh was frozen for an inch below my skin, it was as if I were wearing icy armour —Rebecca West
- Unresponding … like a wall —D. H. Lawrence
Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
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| Noun | 1. | coldness - the sensation produced by low temperatures; "he shivered from the cold"; "the cold helped clear his head" temperature - the somatic sensation of cold or heat |
| 2. | coldness - a lack of affection or enthusiasm; "a distressing coldness of tone and manner" emotionlessness, unemotionality - absence of emotion stone - a lack of feeling or expression or movement; "he must have a heart of stone"; "her face was as hard as stone" lukewarmness, tepidness - lack of passion, force or animation | |
| 3. | coldness - the absence of heat; "the coldness made our breath visible"; "come in out of the cold"; "cold is a vasoconstrictor" pressor, vasoconstrictive, vasoconstrictor - any agent that causes a narrowing of an opening of a blood vessel: cold or stress or nicotine or epinephrine or norepinephrine or angiotensin or vasopressin or certain drugs; maintains or increases blood pressure temperature - the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or environment (corresponding to its molecular activity) chilliness, coolness - the property of being moderately cold; "the chilliness of early morning" frostiness - coldness as evidenced by frost cool - the quality of being at a refreshingly low temperature; "the cool of early morning" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
coldness
nounRelative lack of physical warmth:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
بِبُرودَهبرودة
chlad
kulde
kuldi; fálæti
hladnost
duygusuzluksoğukluk
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
coldness
[ˈkəʊldnɪs] n (physical) [hands, feet, body, skin] → froideur f; [water, air] → froideur f; [weather, winter, day] → froideur f
(emotional) [person] → froideur f; [voice, eyes] → froideur fcold shoulder n
to give sb the cold shoulder → battre froid à qncold-shoulder [ˌkəʊldˈʃəʊldər] vt [+ person] → battre froid àcold snap n → vague f de froid (de courte durée)cold sore n → bouton m de fièvrecold storage n
to give sb the cold shoulder → battre froid à qncold-shoulder [ˌkəʊldˈʃəʊldər] vt [+ person] → battre froid àcold snap n → vague f de froid (de courte durée)cold sore n → bouton m de fièvrecold storage n
to keep sth in cold storage [+ food] → mettre qch en chambre froide
to put sth into cold storage, to put sth in cold storage [+ idea, book, scheme] → mettre qch en attentecold store n (British) (= building) → entrepôt m frigorifique (= room) → chambre f froidecold sweat n
to be in a cold sweat → avoir des sueurs froides
to be in a cold sweat about sth → avoir des sueurs froides au sujet de qchcold turkey n
to go cold turkey → décrocher
to be cold turkey → être en manqueCold War n
the Cold War → la guerre froide
to be in a cold sweat → avoir des sueurs froides
to be in a cold sweat about sth → avoir des sueurs froides au sujet de qchcold turkey n
to go cold turkey → décrocher
to be cold turkey → être en manqueCold War n
the Cold War → la guerre froide
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
coldness
n (lit, fig) → Kälte f; (of answer, reception, welcome) → betonte Kühle; the unexpected coldness of the weather → die unerwartete Kälte; the coldness with which they planned the murder → die Kaltblütigkeit, mit der sie den Mord planten
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
cold
(kəuld) adjective1. low in temperature. cold water; cold meat and salad.
2. lower in temperature than is comfortable. I feel cold.
3. unfriendly. His manner was cold.
noun1. the state of being cold or of feeling the coldness of one's surroundings. She has gone to live in the South of France because she cannot bear the cold in Britain; He was blue with cold.
2. an illness with running nose, coughing etc. He has a bad cold; She has caught a cold; You might catch cold.
ˈcoldly adverb in an unfriendly way. She looked at me coldly.
ˈcoldness nounˌcold-ˈblooded adjective
1. having blood (like that of a fish) which takes the same temperature as the surroundings of the body. cold-blooded creatures.
2. cruel and unfeeling. cold-blooded murder.
cold war a major, especially political, struggle between nations which involves military threats but not fighting.
get cold feet to lose courage. I was going to apply for the job but I got cold feet.
give (someone) the cold shoulder verb (also ˌcoldˈshoulder ) to show that one is unwilling to be friendly with (a person). All the neighbours gave her the cold shoulder; He cold-shouldered all his sister's friends.
in cold blood deliberately and unemotionally. He killed them in cold blood.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
coldness
n. frialdad.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012