chill
pronunciation
How to pronounce chill in British English:
UK [tʃɪl]
How to pronounce chill in American English:
US [tʃɪl]
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- Noun:
- coldness due to a cold environment
- an almost pleasurable sensation of fright
- a sensation of cold that often marks the start of an infection and the development of a fever
- a sudden numbing dread
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- Verb:
- depress or discourage
- make cool or cooler
- loose heat
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- Adjective:
- uncomfortably cool
Word Origin
- chill
- chill: [14] Old English had a noun cele or ciele ‘cold’ (from the same Germanic base as cold) which developed into Middle English chile ‘cold, frost’. Gaps in the record, however, cast doubt on whether this was the direct ancestor of the modern English noun, which may more plausibly be derived from the verb chill. This has been tentatively traced back to a hypothetical Old English verb *cieldan (also from the same Germanic base as cold), whose later form child may have been misinterpreted as a past participle, giving the new base form chill. Chilblain [16] is a compound formed from chill and blain ‘blister’, which comes from Old English blegen.=> cold
- chill (n.)
- Old English ciele, cele "cold, coolness, chill, frost," from Proto-Germanic *kal- "to be cold," from PIE root *gel- "cold" (see cold). According to OED, the word seems to have been obsolete after c. 1400 (displaced by cold) and the modern use is a back-formation since c. 1600 from the verb.
- chill (v.)
- late 14c., intransitive, "to feel cold, grow cold;" c. 1400, transitive, "to make cold," from chill (n.). Related: Chilled; chilling; chillingly. Figurative use from late 14c. Meaning "hang out" first recorded 1985; from earlier chill out "relax" (1979). Sheila E. sizzles in the new flick, Krush Groove, but some New York critics couldn't groove with it because many of the terms are unfamiliar to them. Examples: breakin' out (slang for leaving), chill (for cool down) and death (for something that's really good). ["Jet," Nov. 11, 1985]
Synonym
unfeeling callous apathetic indifferent aloof cold-blooded unmoved inanimate passionless insensitive unsympathetic impassive hardened obdurate unemotional indurate
glacial arctic shivers frigid freezing icy chilly piercing snappy algid nippy ice-cold gelid cold
Example
- 1. The candidacy of barack obama seemed to catch a chill also .
- 2. Wrapped in a sack against the atlantic chill , dean was lowered into a lifeboat .
- 3. The forum saw a public display of the chill in china-america military ties .
- 4. The chill spread by the german chancellor is easy to understand .
- 5. The drink may chill the air in your sinuses and cause the blood vessels in the nasal cavity near your forehead to constrict , creating pain similar to a migraine .