cold

Meaning

Adj

1. Having a low temperature.
2. Causing the air to be cold.
3. Feeling the sensation of coldness, especially to the point of discomfort.
4. Unfriendly; emotionally distant or unfeeling.
5. Chilled, filled with an uncomfortable sense of fear, dread, or alarm.
6. Dispassionate; not prejudiced or partisan; impartial.
7. Completely unprepared; without introduction.
8. Unconscious or deeply asleep; deprived of the metaphorical heat associated with life or consciousness.
9. (usually) Perfectly, exactly, completely; by heart; down pat.
10. (usually) Cornered; done for.
11. (slang) Cool, impressive.
12. (obsolete) Not pungent or acrid.
13. (obsolete) Unexciting; dull; uninteresting.
14. Affecting the sense of smell (as of hunting dogs) only feebly; having lost its odour.
15. (obsolete) Not sensitive; not acute.
16. Distant; said, in the game of hunting for some object, of a seeker remote from the thing concealed. Compare warm and hot.
17. Having a bluish effect; not warm in colour.
18. Rarely used or accessed, and thus able to be relegated to slower storage.
19. (informal) Without compassion; heartless; ruthless.
20. (informal) Not radioactive.
21. Not loaded with a round of live ammunition.
22. Without electrical power being supplied.

Noun

1. (uncountable) A condition of low temperature.
2. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) A harsh place; a place of abandonment.
3. (countable) A common, usually harmless, usually viral illness, usually with congestion of the nasal passages and sometimes fever.
4. (slang, uncountable) Rheum; sleepy dust.

Adv

1. At a low temperature.
2. Without preparation.
3. (dated, informal, slang) In a cold, frank, or realistically honest manner.

Opposite of

baking, boiling, heated, hot, scorching, searing, torrid, warm, chilled, chilly, cold, cold as ice, freezing, freezing cold, frigid, glacial, ice-cold, icy, cool, amiable, friendly, welcoming, prepared, primed, ready, radioactive

Synonyms

cool

🆒

chilly

chill

frigid

coldness

common cold

frigidity

catarrh

flu

freezing

icy

coolness

freeze

bleak

chilliness

frosty

indifferent

cold weather

influenza

frozen

frost

chilled

cold-blooded

cough

low temperature

stale

unfriendly

wet

wintry

fever

🤒

curt

very cold

blunt

short

ice

🧊

distant

head cold

cold air

callous

gelid

aloof

heartless

malaria

unkind

be cold

unsympathetic

fresh

frigidness

congeal

coldly

Translations

froid

🥶

freddo

🥶

frío

🥶

kalt

🥶

rhume

🥶

frio

🥶

Erkältung

🥶

raffreddore

🥶

koud

🥶

Kälte

fred

🥶

resfriado

verkoudheid

🥶

catarro

🥶

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kəʊld/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: cold

Inherited from Old English: -

Cognate with Scots: cald

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: koold

Cognate with Western Frisian: kâld

Cognate with Dutch: koud

Cognate with Low German: kold

Cognate with German: kalt

Cognate with Danish: kold

Cognate with Norwegian: kald

Cognate with Swedish: kall

Inherited from Old English: cald

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: Keelde

Cognate with Western Frisian: kjeld

Cognate with Dutch: koude

Cognate with German: Kälte

Cognate with Danish: kulde

Cognate with Swedish: köld

Cognate with Norwegian: kulde

Cognate with Icelandic: kuldi

Inherited from Middle English: colde

Inherited from Old English: calde

In summary

From Middle English cold, from Anglian Old English cald. The West Saxon form, ċeald (“cold”), survived as early Middle English cheald, cheld, or chald. Both descended from Proto-West Germanic *kald, from Proto-Germanic *kaldaz, a participle form of *kalaną (“to be cold”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots cald, cauld (“cold”), Saterland Frisian koold (“cold”), West Frisian kâld (“cold”), Dutch koud (“cold”), Low German kold, koolt, koold (“cold”), German kalt (“cold”), Danish kold (“cold”), Norwegian kald (“cold”), Swedish kall (“cold”).

Sentences

You cannot brew tea in a cold pot .

The cold drizzle will halt the bond drive .

Their parody of " Baby It's Cold Outside ", recorded with June Carter , became a hit .