cold
pronunciation
How to pronounce cold in British English:
UK [kəʊld]
How to pronounce cold in American English:
US [koʊld]
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- Noun:
- a mild viral infection involving the nose and respiratory passages (but not the lungs)
- the absence of heat
- the sensation produced by low temperatures
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- Adjective:
- used of physical coldness; having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
- extended meanings; especially of psychological coldness; without human warmth or emotion
- having lost freshness through passage of time
- (color) giving no sensation of warmth
- marked by errorless familiarity
- no longer new; uninteresting
- so intense as to be almost uncontrollable
- sexually unresponsive
- without compunction or human feeling
- feeling or showing no enthusiasm
- unconscious from a blow or shock or intoxication
- of a seeker; far from the object sought
- lacking the warmth of life
Word Origin
- cold
- cold: [OE] Cold is a word of ancient roots. It can be traced back to the Indo-European base *gel-, *gol-, which also produced Latin gelu ‘frost’, ultimate source of English congeal, gel, and jelly. Its prehistoric Germanic descendant was *kal-, *kōl-, from which English gets cool, probably chill, and, via a past participial adjective *kaldaz, cold. The noun use of the adjective dates back to Old English times, but the sense ‘viral infection of the nose, throat, etc’ is a 16th- century development.=> chill, congeal, cool, gel, jelly
- cold (adj.)
- Old English cald (Anglian), ceald (West Saxon) "cold, cool" (adj.), "coldness," from Proto-Germanic *kaldaz (cognates: Old Frisian and Old Saxon kald, Old High German and German kalt, Old Norse kaldr, Gothic kalds "cold"), possibly a past participle adjective of *kal-/*kol-, from PIE root *gel-/*gol- "cold" (cognates: Latin gelare "to freeze," gelu "frost," glacies "ice"). Meaning "not strong" (in reference to scent) is 1590s, from hunting. Cold front in weather is from 1921. Cold-call in the sales pitch sense first recorded 1972. Japanese has two words for "cold:" samui for coldness in the atmosphere or environment; tsumetai for things which are cold to touch, and also in the figurative sense, with reference to personalities, behaviors, etc.
- cold (n.)
- c. 1300, "coldness," from cold (adj.). Sense in common cold is 1530s, from symptoms resembling those of exposure to cold; compare earlier senses "indisposition caused by exposure to cold" (early 14c.); "discomfort caused by cold" (c. 1300).
Antonym
Example
- 1. Cold kills the old and vulnerable .
- 2. Do you think getting cold can give you a cold ?
- 3. Is it very cold in winter ?
- 4. Spare camera batteries / recharger are vital in winter as cold weather quickly depletes the charge .
- 5. But today it seemed like a cold and heartless place .