Adjacent Words

Cold definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COLD, a.
1. Not warm or hot; gelid, frigid; a relative term. A substance is cold to the touch, when it is less warm then the body, and when in contact, the heat of the body passes from the body to the substance; as cold air; a cold stone; cold water. It denotes a greater degree of the quality than cool.
2. Having the sensation of cold; chill; shivering, or inclined to shiver; as, I am cold.
3. Having cold qualities; as a cold plant.
4. Frigid; wanting passion, zeal ro ardor; indifferent; unconcerned; not animated, or easily excited into action; as a cold spectator; a cold Christian; a cold lover, or friend; a cold temper.
Thou art neither cold nor hot. Revelation 3.
5. Not moving; unaffecting; not animated; not able to excite feeling; spiritless; as a cold discourse; a cold jest.
6. Reserved; coy; not affectionate, cordial or friendly; indicating indifference; as a cold look; a cold return of civilities; a cold reception.
7. Not heated by sensual desire.
8. Not hasty; not violent.
9. Not affecting the scent strongly.
10. Not having the scent strongly affected.
COLD, n.
1. The sensation produced in animal bodies by the escape of heat, and the consequent contraction of the fine vessels. Also, the cause of that sensation. Heat expands the vessels, and cold contracts them; and the transition from an expanded to a contracted state is accompanied with a sensation to which, as well as to the cause of it, we give the denomination of cold. Hence cold is a privation of heat, or the cause of it.
2. A shivering; the effect of the contraction of the fine vessels of the body; chilliness, or chillness.
3. A disease; indisposition occasioned by cold; catarrh.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration; "a cold climate"; "a cold room"; "dinner has gotten cold"; "cold fingers"; "if you are cold, turn up the heat"; "a cold beer" [ant: hot]
2: extended meanings; especially of psychological coldness; without human warmth or emotion; "a cold unfriendly nod"; "a cold and unaffectionate person"; "a cold impersonal manner"; "cold logic"; "the concert left me cold" [ant: hot]
3: having lost freshness through passage of time; "a cold trail"; "dogs attempting to catch a cold scent"
4: (color) giving no sensation of warmth; "a cold bluish grey"
5: marked by errorless familiarity; "had her lines cold before rehearsals started"
6: lacking originality or spontaneity; no longer new; "moth- eaten theories about race"; "stale news" [syn: cold, stale, dusty, moth-eaten]
7: so intense as to be almost uncontrollable; "cold fury gripped him"
8: sexually unresponsive; "was cold to his advances"; "a frigid woman" [syn: cold, frigid]
9: without compunction or human feeling; "in cold blood"; "cold- blooded killing"; "insensate destruction" [syn: cold, cold-blooded, inhuman, insensate]
10: feeling or showing no enthusiasm; "a cold audience"; "a cold response to the new play"
11: unconscious from a blow or shock or intoxication; "the boxer was out cold"; "pass out cold"
12: of a seeker; far from the object sought
13: lacking the warmth of life; "cold in his grave" n
1: a mild viral infection involving the nose and respiratory passages (but not the lungs); "will they never find a cure for the common cold?" [syn: cold, common cold]
2: the absence of heat; "the coldness made our breath visible"; "come in out of the cold"; "cold is a vasoconstrictor" [syn: coldness, cold, low temperature, frigidity, frigidness] [ant: heat, high temperature, hotness]
3: the sensation produced by low temperatures; "he shivered from the cold"; "the cold helped clear his head" [syn: cold, coldness]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Old English ceald, cald; akin to Old High German kalt cold, Latin gelu frost, gelare to freeze Date: before 12th century 1. a. having or being a temperature that is uncomfortably low for humans <it is cold outside today> <a cold drafty attic> b. having a relatively low temperature or one lower than normal or expected <the bath water has gotten cold> c. not heated: as (1) of food served without heating especially after initial cooking or processing <cold cereal> <cold roast beef> (2) served chilled or with ice <a cold drink> (3) involving processing without the use of heat <cold working of steel> 2. a. marked by a lack of the warmth of normal human emotion, friendliness, or compassion <a cold stare> <got a cold reception>; also not moved to enthusiasm <the movie leaves me cold> b. not colored or affected by personal feeling or bias ; detached, indifferent <cold chronicles recorded by an outsider — Andrew Sarris>; also impersonal, objective <cold facts> <cold reality> c. marked by sure familiarity ; pat <had her lines cold weeks before opening night> 3. conveying the impression of being cold: as a. depressing, gloomy <cold gray skies> b. cool 6a 4. a. marked by the loss of normal body heat <cold hands>; especially dead b. giving the appearance of being dead ; unconscious <passed out cold> 5. a. having lost freshness or vividness ; stale <dogs trying to pick up a cold scent> b. far off the mark ; not close to finding or solving — used especially in children's games c. marked by poor or unlucky performance <the team's shooting turned cold in the second half> d. not prepared or suitably warmed up • coldish adjective • coldly adverb • coldness noun II. noun Date: 13th century 1. bodily sensation produced by loss or lack of heat <they died of the cold> 2. a condition of low temperature <extremes of heat and cold>; especially cold weather 3. a bodily disorder popularly associated with chilling; specifically common cold III. adverb Date: 1889 1. with utter finality ; absolutely, completely <turned down cold>; also abruptly <stopped them cold> 2. a. without introduction or advance notice <walked in cold to apply for a job> b. without preparation or warm-up <was asked to perform the solo cold>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj., n., & adv. --adj. 1 of or at a low or relatively low temperature, esp. when compared with the human body. 2 not heated; cooled after being heated. 3 (of a person) feeling cold. 4 lacking ardour, friendliness, or affection; undemonstrative, apathetic. 5 depressing, dispiriting, uninteresting (cold facts). 6 a dead. b colloq. unconscious. 7 colloq. at one's mercy (had me cold). 8 sexually frigid. 9 (of soil) slow to absorb heat. 10 (of a scent in hunting) having become weak. 11 (in children's games) far from finding or guessing what is sought. 12 without preparation or rehearsal. --n. 1 a the prevalence of a low temperature, esp. in the atmosphere. b cold weather; a cold environment (went out into the cold). 2 an infection in which the mucous membrane of the nose and throat becomes inflamed, causing running at the nose, sneezing, sore throat, etc. --adv. esp. US completely, entirely (was stopped cold mid-sentence). Phrases and idioms: catch a cold 1 become infected with a cold. 2 encounter trouble or difficulties. cold call sell goods or services by making unsolicited calls on prospective customers by telephone or in person. cold cathode a cathode that emits electrons without being heated. cold chisel a chisel suitable for cutting metal. cold comfort poor or inadequate consolation. cold cream ointment for cleansing and softening the skin. cold cuts slices of cold cooked meats. cold feet colloq. loss of nerve or confidence. cold frame an unheated frame with a glass top for growing small plants. cold front the forward edge of an advancing mass of cold air. cold fusion nuclear fusion at room temperature esp. as a possible energy source. cold shoulder a show of intentional unfriendliness. cold-shoulder v.tr. be deliberately unfriendly to. cold sore inflammation and blisters in and around the mouth, caused by a virus infection. cold storage 1 storage in a refrigerator or other cold place for preservation. 2 a state in which something (esp. an idea) is put aside temporarily. cold sweat a state of sweating induced by fear or illness. cold table a selection of dishes of cold food. cold turkey US sl. 1 a series of blunt statements or behaviour. 2 abrupt withdrawal from addictive drugs; the symptoms of this. cold war a state of hostility between nations without actual fighting. cold wave 1 a temporary spell of cold weather over a wide area. 2 a kind of permanent wave for the hair using chemicals and without heat. in cold blood without feeling or passion; deliberately, ruthlessly. out in the cold ignored, neglected. throw (or pour) cold water on be discouraging or depreciatory about. Derivatives: coldish adj. coldly adv. coldness n. Etymology: OE cald f. Gmc, rel. to L gelu frost

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cold Cold, n. 1. The relative absence of heat or warmth. 2. The sensation produced by the escape of heat; chilliness or chillness. When she saw her lord prepared to part, A deadly cold ran shivering to her heart. --Dryden. 3. (Med.) A morbid state of the animal system produced by exposure to cold or dampness; a catarrh. Cold sore (Med.), a vesicular eruption appearing about the mouth as the result of a cold, or in the course of any disease attended with fever.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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. 2. Lacking the sensation of warmth; suffering from the absence of heat; chilly; shivering; as, to be cold. 3. Not pungent or acrid. ``Cold plants.'' --Bacon 4. Wanting in ardor, intensity, warmth, zeal, or passion; spiritless; unconcerned; reserved. A cold and unconcerned spectator. --T. Burnet. No cold relation is a zealous citizen. --Burke. 5. Unwelcome; disagreeable; unsatisfactory. ``Cold news for me.'' ``Cold comfort.'' --Shak. 6. Wanting in power to excite; dull; uninteresting. What a deal of cold business doth a man misspend the better part of life in! --B. Jonson. The jest grows cold . . . when in comes on in a second scene. --Addison. 7. Affecting the sense of smell (as of hunting dogs) but feebly; having lost its odor; as, a cold scent. 8. Not sensitive; not acute. Smell this business with a sense as cold As is a dead man's nose. --Shak. 9. Distant; -- said, in the game of hunting for some object, of a seeker remote from the thing concealed. 10. (Paint.) Having a bluish effect. Cf. Warm, 8. 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. 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cold Cold, v. i. To become cold. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(colder, coldest, colds) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. Something that is cold has a very low temperature or a lower temperature than is normal or acceptable. Rinse the vegetables under cold running water... He likes his tea neither too hot nor too cold... Your dinner's getting cold. ? hot, warm ADJ • coldness She complained about the coldness of his hands. ? warmth N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp 2. If it is cold, or if a place is cold, the temperature of the air is very low. It was bitterly cold... The house is cold because I can't afford to turn the heat on... This is the coldest winter I can remember. ? hot, warm ADJ: oft it v-link ADJ • coldness Within quarter of an hour the coldness of the night had gone. N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp 3. Cold weather or low temperatures can be referred to as the cold. He must have come inside to get out of the cold... His feet were blue with cold. ? heat N-UNCOUNT: also the N 4. If you are cold, your body is at an unpleasantly low temperature. I was freezing cold... I'm hungry, I'm cold and I've nowhere to sleep. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ 5. Cold food, such as salad or meat that has been cooked and cooled, is not intended to be eaten hot. A wide variety of hot and cold snacks will be available. ...cold meats. ? hot ADJ: usu ADJ n 6. Cold colours or cold light give an impression of coldness. Generally, warm colours advance in painting and cold colours recede. ...the cold blue light from a streetlamp. ? warm ADJ 7. A cold person does not show much emotion, especially affection, and therefore seems unfriendly and unsympathetic. If someone's voice is cold, they speak in an unfriendly unsympathetic way. What a cold, unfeeling woman she was... 'Send her away,' Eve said in a cold, hard voice. ? warm ADJ [disapproval] • coldly 'I'll see you in the morning,' Hugh said coldly. ADV • coldness His coldness angered her. 8. A cold trail or scent is one which is old and therefore difficult to follow. He could follow a cold trail over hard ground and even over stones. ? fresh ADJ 9. If you have a cold, you have a mild, very common illness which makes you sneeze a lot and gives you a sore throat or a cough. N-COUNT 10. see also common cold 11. If you catch cold, or catch a cold, you become ill with a cold. Let's dry our hair so we don't catch cold. PHRASE: V inflects 12. If something leaves you cold, it fails to excite or interest you. Lawrence is one of those writers who either excite you enormously or leave you cold. PHRASE: V inflects 13. If someone is out cold, they are unconscious or sleeping very heavily. She was out cold but still breathing. PHRASE: v-link PHR 14. in cold blood: see blood to get cold feet: see foot to blow hot and cold: see hot to pour cold water on something: see water

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

kold (qor; psuchros (adj.), psuchos (noun)): Palestine is essentially a land of sunshine and warmth.

1. Temperature in Palestine:

The extreme cold of northern latitudes is unknown. January is the coldest month; but the degree of cold in a particular place depends largely on the altitude above the sea. On the seacoast and plain the snow never falls; and the temperature reaches freezing-point, perhaps once in thirty years. In Jerusalem at 2,500 ft. above the sea the mean temperature in January is about 45 degrees F., but the minimum may be as low as 25 degrees F. Snow occasionally falls, but lasts only a short time. On Mt. Hermon and on the Lebanons snow may be found the whole year, and the cold is most intense, even in the summer. In Jericho and around the Dead Sea, 1,292 ft. below sea-level, it is correspondingly hotter, and cold is not known.

2. Provision against Cold:

Cold is of such short duration that no adequate provision is made by the people to protect themselves against the cold. The sun is always bright and warm, and nearly always shines for part of the day, even in winter. After sunset the people wrap themselves up and go to sleep. They prefer to wrap up their heads rather than their feet in order to keep warm. The only means of heating the houses is the charcoal brazier around which as many as possible gather for a little warmth. It is merely a bed of coals in an iron vessel. Peter was glad to avail himself of the little heat of the coals as late as the beginning of April, when the nights are often chilly in Jerusalem: "Having made a fire of coals; for it was cold: .... and Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself" (Joh 18:18). There is no attempt made to heat the whole house. In the cold winter months the people of the mountains almost hibernate. They wrap up their heads in shawls and coverings and only the most energetic venture out: "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter" (Pr 20:4, the King James Version "cold"). The peasants and more primitive people of the desert often make a fire in the open or in partial shelter, as in Melita where Paul was cast ashore after shipwreck: "The barbarians .... kindled a fire .... because of the cold" (Ac 28:2).

3. Dread of Cold:

The cold is greatly dreaded because it causes so much actual suffering: "Who can stand before his cold?" (Ps 147:17). The last degree of degradation is to have "no covering in the cold" (Job 24:7).

4. Cold Grateful in Summer:

In the heat of the long summer, the shadow of a rock or the cool of evening is most grateful, and the appreciation of a cup of cold water can easily be understood by anyone who has experienced the burning heat of the Syrian sun: "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country" (Pr 25:25); "cold of snow in the time of harvest" (Pr 25:13), probably with reference to the use of snow (shaved ice) in the East to cool a beverage.

Figurative uses: "The love of the many shall wax cold" (Mt 24:12); "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot" (Re 3:15).

Alfred H. Joy

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Devoid of warmth or heat, chilled, frigid, gelid, cool, cooled. 2. Bleak, raw, biting, cutting, nipping, chill, chilly, boreal, arctic, polar, frosty, icy, wintry, hyemal, brumal. 3. Chilly, chill, shivering. 4. Apathetic, unsympathetic, unresponsive, phlegmatic, stoical, unfeeling, unsusceptible, unimpressible, passionless, cold-blooded, sluggish, torpid, lukewarm, dead, indifferent, unconcerned, frigid, freezing, without heart. 5. Unaffecting, uninteresting, spiritless, uninspiring, dull, dead. 6. Untouched by desire, without passion, coldly chaste. II. n. 1. Absence of warmth, want of heat. 2. Coldness, chilliness. 3. Catarrh, cough (or other inflammatory disease produced by exposure to cold).

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

You will catch cold at that; a vulgar threat or advice to desist from an attempt. He caught cold by lying in bed barefoot; a saying of any one extremely tender or careful of himself.

Moby Thesaurus

Asiatic flu, Hong Kong flu, Laodicean, Olympian, Siberian, abruptly, absolutely, acute bronchitis, adenoiditis, affectless, ague, aguey, aguish, algid, aloof, aluminosis, amygdalitis, anesthetized, anthracosilicosis, anthracosis, apathetic, arctic, arid, arrogant, asbestosis, asexual, asleep, asthma, atypical pneumonia, audacious, autistic, backward, barren, bashful, below zero, biting, bitter, bitterly cold, bituminosis, black, black lung, blah, blank, bleak, bloodless, blue with cold, blunt, boreal, bracing, brisk, bronchial pneumonia, bronchiectasis, bronchiolitis, bronchitis, bronchopneumonia, brumal, bug, bumptious, callous, calloused, castrated, cataleptic, catarrh, catatonic, chalicosis, characterless, chattering, cheerless, chill, chilled, chilling, chilly, chromatic, chronic bronchitis, cold as charity, cold as death, cold as ice, cold as marble, cold of heart, cold-blooded, coldblooded, coldhearted, coldness, collapsed lung, colorific, coloring, colorless, comatose, common cold, completely, coniosis, constrained, contumelious, cool, coryza, crisp, croup, croupous pneumonia, cutting, dead, dead as mutton, deadening, deceased, defunct, departed, depressing, detached, dichromatic, disaccordant, discouraging, discreet, disdainful, disheartening, dismal, dispassionate, dispiriting, distant, dithery, doped, double pneumonia, draggy, drear, drearisome, dreary, drugged, dry, dry pleurisy, dryasdust, dull, effete, elephantine, emasculated, emotionally dead, emotionless, emphysema, empty, empyema, entirely, epidemic pleurodynia, etiolated, eunuchized, exanimate, exclusive, expressionless, extinct, fade, faint, familiar, far, fervorless, fibrinous pneumonia, flat, flinthearted, flu, forbidding, forward, freezing, freezing cold, frigid, frigidity, frosted, frosty, frozen, frozen to death, frustrated, gelid, glacial, gloomy, glowing, grippe, guarded, half-conscious, half-frozen, halfhearted, hard, hard of heart, hardened, hardhearted, harmonious, hay fever, heartless, heavy, hibernal, hiemal, ho-hum, hollow, hubristic, hyperboreal, hyperborean, ice-cold, ice-encrusted, iced, icelike, iciness, icy, immediately, immovable, impassible, impassive, impersonal, impotent, inaccessible, inane, inanimate, inclement, incompatible, indifferent, inexcitable, influenza, inhibited, inhospitable, inimical, insensitive, insipid, insolent, insulting, insusceptible, introverted, jejune, joyless, keen, la grippe, laryngitis, late, leaden, lifeless, lipoid pneumonia, lobar pneumonia, low-spirited, lukewarm, lung cancer, lung fever, many-colored, matching, matter-of-fact, medley, modest, monochromatic, monochrome, monochromic, motley, narcotized, neuter, neutral, nipping, nippy, nirvanic, nonemotional, numbing, obdurate, objective, oblivious, obtrusive, obtuse, off the track, offish, old, oppressive, out, out cold, out of it, out of touch, overpresumptuous, overweening, pale, pallid, parti-colored, passionless, pedestrian, penetrating, perfunctory, pharyngitis, piercing, pigmentary, pinching, pleurisy, pleuritis, plodding, pneumococcal pneumonia, pneumoconiosis, pneumonia, pneumonic fever, pneumothorax, pointless, poky, polar, polychromatic, ponderous, presuming, presumptuous, prismatic, procacious, promptly, pushy, quinsy, rainbow, raw, remote, removed, repressed, reserved, restrained, reticent, retiring, rheum, rigorous, seclusive, self-absorbed, semiconscious, senseless, severe, sexless, shaky, sharp, shivering, shivery, shrinking, siderosis, silicosis, sleety, slow, slushy, snappy, sniffles, solemn, somber, sore throat, soulless, spaced out, spectral, spiritless, stale, standoff, standoffish, stereotyped, sterile, stiff, stodgy, stone-cold, stone-dead, stoned, stonyhearted, strained, strung out, stuffy, subdued, subzero, supercooled, superficial, suppressed, swine flu, tasteless, tedious, tense, tepid, the sniffles, the snuffles, thoroughly, tinctorial, tingent, toning, tonsilitis, trite, unaffable, unaffectionate, unamiable, unamicable, unapproachable, uncaring, uncongenial, unconscious, uncordial, undemonstrative, undersexed, unemotional, unenthusiastic, unexpansive, unfeeling, unfriendly, ungenial, unharmonious, unheated, unimpassioned, unimpressionable, unlively, unloving, unmerciful, unmoved, unmoving, unnatural, unpassionate, unprepared, unready, unreservedly, unresponding, unresponsive, unsexed, unsexual, unsociable, unsusceptible, unsympathetic, untouchable, uppish, uppity, vapid, variegated, virus pneumonia, warm, weak, wet pleurisy, whooping cough, winterbound, winterlike, wintery, wintry, with chattering teeth, withdrawn, wooden, zealless, zonked, zonked out