cold Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a mild viral infection involving the nose and respiratory passages (but not the lungs)
    common cold.
    • will they never find a cure for the common cold?
  2. noun the absence of heat
    frigidness; coldness; frigidity; low temperature.
    • the coldness made our breath visible
    • come in out of the cold
    • cold is a vasoconstrictor
  3. noun the sensation produced by low temperatures
    coldness.
    • he shivered from the cold
    • the cold helped clear his head
  4. adjective 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
  5. adjective 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
  6. adjective satellite having lost freshness through passage of time
    • a cold trail
    • dogs attempting to catch a cold scent
  7. adjective satellite (color) giving no sensation of warmth
    • a cold bluish grey
  8. adjective satellite marked by errorless familiarity
    • had her lines cold before rehearsals started
  9. adjective satellite lacking originality or spontaneity; no longer new
    dusty; stale; moth-eaten.
    • moth-eaten theories about race
    • stale news
  10. adjective satellite so intense as to be almost uncontrollable
    • cold fury gripped him
  11. adjective satellite sexually unresponsive
    frigid.
    • was cold to his advances
    • a frigid woman
  12. adjective satellite without compunction or human feeling
    inhuman; insensate; cold-blooded.
    • in cold blood
    • cold-blooded killing
    • insensate destruction
  13. adjective satellite feeling or showing no enthusiasm
    • a cold audience
    • a cold response to the new play
  14. adjective satellite unconscious from a blow or shock or intoxication
    • the boxer was out cold
    • pass out cold
  15. adjective satellite of a seeker; far from the object sought
  16. adjective satellite lacking the warmth of life
    • cold in his grave

WordNet

Cold adjective
Etymology
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.
Wordforms
comparative Colder ; superlative Coldest
Definitions
  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. Syn. -- Gelid; bleak; frigid; chill; indifferent; unconcerned; passionless; reserved; unfeeling; stoical.
Cold noun
Definitions
  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 intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To become cold. Obs. Chaucer.

Webster 1913