cold feet

Meaning

1. (informal, plural, plural-only) A feeling of nervousness or anxiousness causing one to reconsider a decision about an upcoming event.
2. (plural, plural-only) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cold, feet.

Synonyms

timidness

timorousness

Translations

miedo

😨

susto

Etymology

Idiomatic sense possibly from a calque of German kalte Füße bekommen (“to get cold feet”), or of Lombard avegh minga frecc i pee (“to have no money”, literally “to be cold in the feet”) (Italian aver freddo ai piedi), said by a person who wishes to stop gambling, allegedly because the person now has cold feet due to being too poor to afford proper footwear.