cold
♦♦ cold /k'oʊld/ (colder coldest colds)
1 [ADJ]
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
● coldness [N-UNCOUNT] usu with supp
She complained about the coldness of his hands.
≠ warmth
2 [ADJ] oft it v-link ADJ
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
● coldness [N-UNCOUNT] usu with supp
Within quarter of an hour the coldness of the night had gone.
3 [N-UNCOUNT] also the N
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
4 [ADJ] usu v-link ADJ
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.
5 [ADJ] usu ADJ n
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
6 [ADJ]
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
7 [ADJ]
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
● coldly [ADV]
`I'll see you in the morning,' Hugh said coldly.
● coldness [N-UNCOUNT]
His coldness angered her.
8 [ADJ]
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
9 [N-COUNT]
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.
10
see also common cold
11 [PHRASE] V inflects
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.
12 [PHRASE] V inflects
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.
13 [PHRASE] v-link PHR
If someone is out cold, they are unconscious or sleeping very heavily.
She was out cold but still breathing.
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 watercold call (cold calls cold calling cold called)
1 [N-COUNT]
If someone makes a cold call, they telephone or visit someone they have never contacted, without making an appointment, in order to try and sell something.
She had worked as a call centre operator making cold calls for time-share holidays.
2 [VERB] V, also V n
To cold call means to make a cold call.
You should refuse to meet anyone who cold calls with an offer of financial advice.
● cold calling [N-UNCOUNT]
We will adhere to strict sales ethics, with none of the cold calling that has given the industry such a bad name.cold com|fort
[N-UNCOUNT] oft N to/for n
If you say that a slightly encouraging fact or event is cold comfort to someone, you mean that it gives them little or no comfort because their situation is so difficult or unpleasant.
These figures may look good on paper but are cold comfort to the islanders themselves.cold cuts
[N-PLURAL]
Cold cuts are thin slices of cooked meat which are served cold. (AM)cold fish
[N-SING]
If you say that someone is a cold fish, you think that they are unfriendly and unemotional.cold frame (cold frames)
[N-COUNT]
A cold frame is a wooden frame with a glass top in which you grow small plants to protect them from cold weather.cold shoul|der (cold-shoulders cold-shouldering cold-shouldered)
The form cold-shoulder is used for the verb.
1 [N-SING] usu the N
If one person gives another the cold shoulder, they behave towards them in an unfriendly way, to show them that they do not care about them or that they want them to go away.
But when Gough looked to Haig for support, he was given the cold shoulder.
2 [VERB] V n
If one person cold-shoulders another, they give them the cold-shoulder.
Even her own party considered her shrewish and nagging, and cold-shouldered her in the corridors.cold snap (cold snaps)
[N-COUNT] usu sing
A cold snap is a short period of cold and icy weather.cold sore (cold sores)
[N-COUNT]
Cold sores are small sore spots that sometimes appear on or near someone's lips and nose when they have a cold. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use fever blister)cold stor|age
[N-UNCOUNT]
If something such as food is put in cold storage, it is kept in an artificially cooled place in order to preserve it.
The strawberries are kept in cold storage to prevent them spoiling during transportation.cold store (cold stores)
[N-COUNT]
A cold store is a building or room which is artificially cooled so that food can be preserved in it. (BRIT)cold sweat (cold sweats)
[N-COUNT] usu sing, usu in/into N
If you are in a cold sweat, you are sweating and feel cold, usually because you are very afraid or nervous.
He awoke from his sleep in a cold sweat.cold tur|key
[N-UNCOUNT]
Cold turkey is the unpleasant physical reaction that people experience when they suddenly stop taking a drug that they have become addicted to. (INFORMAL)
The quickest way to get her off the drug was to let her go cold turkey.com|mon cold (common colds)
[N-COUNT] usu sing, the N
The common cold is a mild illness. If you have it, your nose is blocked or runny and you have a sore throat or a cough.
1 [ADJ]
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
● coldness [N-UNCOUNT] usu with supp
She complained about the coldness of his hands.
≠ warmth
2 [ADJ] oft it v-link ADJ
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
● coldness [N-UNCOUNT] usu with supp
Within quarter of an hour the coldness of the night had gone.
3 [N-UNCOUNT] also the N
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
4 [ADJ] usu v-link ADJ
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.
5 [ADJ] usu ADJ n
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
6 [ADJ]
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
7 [ADJ]
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
● coldly [ADV]
`I'll see you in the morning,' Hugh said coldly.
● coldness [N-UNCOUNT]
His coldness angered her.
8 [ADJ]
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
9 [N-COUNT]
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.
10
see also common cold
11 [PHRASE] V inflects
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.
12 [PHRASE] V inflects
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.
13 [PHRASE] v-link PHR
If someone is out cold, they are unconscious or sleeping very heavily.
She was out cold but still breathing.
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 watercold call (cold calls cold calling cold called)
1 [N-COUNT]
If someone makes a cold call, they telephone or visit someone they have never contacted, without making an appointment, in order to try and sell something.
She had worked as a call centre operator making cold calls for time-share holidays.
2 [VERB] V, also V n
To cold call means to make a cold call.
You should refuse to meet anyone who cold calls with an offer of financial advice.
● cold calling [N-UNCOUNT]
We will adhere to strict sales ethics, with none of the cold calling that has given the industry such a bad name.cold com|fort
[N-UNCOUNT] oft N to/for n
If you say that a slightly encouraging fact or event is cold comfort to someone, you mean that it gives them little or no comfort because their situation is so difficult or unpleasant.
These figures may look good on paper but are cold comfort to the islanders themselves.cold cuts
[N-PLURAL]
Cold cuts are thin slices of cooked meat which are served cold. (AM)cold fish
[N-SING]
If you say that someone is a cold fish, you think that they are unfriendly and unemotional.cold frame (cold frames)
[N-COUNT]
A cold frame is a wooden frame with a glass top in which you grow small plants to protect them from cold weather.cold shoul|der (cold-shoulders cold-shouldering cold-shouldered)
The form cold-shoulder is used for the verb.
1 [N-SING] usu the N
If one person gives another the cold shoulder, they behave towards them in an unfriendly way, to show them that they do not care about them or that they want them to go away.
But when Gough looked to Haig for support, he was given the cold shoulder.
2 [VERB] V n
If one person cold-shoulders another, they give them the cold-shoulder.
Even her own party considered her shrewish and nagging, and cold-shouldered her in the corridors.cold snap (cold snaps)
[N-COUNT] usu sing
A cold snap is a short period of cold and icy weather.cold sore (cold sores)
[N-COUNT]
Cold sores are small sore spots that sometimes appear on or near someone's lips and nose when they have a cold. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use fever blister)cold stor|age
[N-UNCOUNT]
If something such as food is put in cold storage, it is kept in an artificially cooled place in order to preserve it.
The strawberries are kept in cold storage to prevent them spoiling during transportation.cold store (cold stores)
[N-COUNT]
A cold store is a building or room which is artificially cooled so that food can be preserved in it. (BRIT)cold sweat (cold sweats)
[N-COUNT] usu sing, usu in/into N
If you are in a cold sweat, you are sweating and feel cold, usually because you are very afraid or nervous.
He awoke from his sleep in a cold sweat.cold tur|key
[N-UNCOUNT]
Cold turkey is the unpleasant physical reaction that people experience when they suddenly stop taking a drug that they have become addicted to. (INFORMAL)
The quickest way to get her off the drug was to let her go cold turkey.com|mon cold (common colds)
[N-COUNT] usu sing, the N
The common cold is a mild illness. If you have it, your nose is blocked or runny and you have a sore throat or a cough.