cold

English Online Dictionary. What means cold‎? What does cold mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəʊld/, [kʰɔʊ(ɫ)d], [kʰɒʊ(ɫ)d]
  • (younger) IPA^(key): /kɒld/, [kʰɔɫd]
• (General American) enPR: kold, IPA^(key): /koʊld/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /kaʉld/, [kʰɒʊ(ɫ)d]
• Homophone: coaled
• Rhymes: -əʊld

Etymology 1

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”).

Adjective

cold (comparative colder, superlative coldest)

1. (of a thing) Having a low temperature.

   Synonyms: chilled, chilly, freezing, frigid, glacial, icy, cool; see also Thesaurus:cold

   Antonyms: baking, boiling, heated, hot, scorching, searing, torrid, warm; see also Thesaurus:hot, Thesaurus:warm
2. (of the weather) Causing the air to be cold.

   Synonyms: (UK, slang) brass monkeys, nippy, parky, taters

   Antonyms: hot; see also Thesaurus:hot
3. (of a person or animal) Feeling the sensation of coldness, especially to the point of discomfort.

   Antonyms: hot; see also Thesaurus:hot

5. Unfriendly; emotionally distant or unfeeling.

   Synonyms: aloof, distant, hostile, standoffish, unfriendly, unwelcoming; see also Thesaurus:aloof

   Antonyms: amiable, friendly, welcoming
6. Chilled, filled with an uncomfortable sense of fear, dread, or alarm.

   Synonym: apprehensive
7. Dispassionate; not prejudiced or partisan; impartial.

   Synonyms: disinterested, indifferent; see also Thesaurus:impartial

8. Completely unprepared; without introduction.

   Synonyms: unprepared, unready

   Antonyms: prepared, primed, ready
9. Unconscious or deeply asleep; deprived of the metaphorical heat associated with life or consciousness.
10. (usually with "have" or "know" transitively) Perfectly, exactly, completely; by heart; down pat.

11. (usually with "have" transitively) Cornered; done for.
12. (slang) Cool, impressive.
13. (obsolete) Not pungent or acrid.

    Synonyms: mild, neutral
14. (obsolete) Unexciting; dull; uninteresting.

    Synonyms: colourless, lifeless; see also Thesaurus:boring
15. Affecting the sense of smell (as of hunting dogs) only feebly; having lost its odour.

16. (obsolete) Not sensitive; not acute.
17. Distant; said, in the game of hunting for some object, of a seeker remote from the thing concealed. Compare warm and hot.

18. (painting) Having a bluish effect; not warm in colour.

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:bluish

19. (databases) Rarely used or accessed, and thus able to be relegated to slower storage.
20. (informal) Without compassion; heartless; ruthless.

    Synonyms: cold-eyed, frosty, icy, uncompassionate; see also Thesaurus:stern
21. (informal) Not radioactive. [from the 20^thc.]

    Antonyms: hot, radioactive
22. (firearms) Not loaded with a round of live ammunition.
23. Without electrical power being supplied.

    Synonym: dead

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: kowru
  • Aukan: koo

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English cold, colde, from Old English cald, ċeald (“cold, coldness”), from Proto-West Germanic *kald, from Proto-Germanic *kaldą (“coldness”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold”).

Noun

cold (countable and uncountable, plural colds)

1. (uncountable) A condition of low temperature.

2. (with 'the', figurative) A harsh place; a place of abandonment.

4. (countable, pathology) A common, usually harmless, usually viral illness, usually with congestion of the nasal passages and sometimes fever.
5. (uncountable, slang) Rheum; sleepy dust.

Synonyms

• (low temperature): coldness
• (illness): common cold, coryza, head cold, pose

Coordinate terms

• freeze, frost

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English colde, from Old English calde, ċealde (“coldly”), from the adjective (see above).

Adverb

cold (comparative more cold, superlative most cold)

1. At a low temperature.

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

Derived terms

See also

• cool
• fresh
• lukewarm
• tepid

References

Anagrams

• clod, loc'd

Middle English

Alternative forms

• cald, chald, cheald, cheld, coold

Etymology

Inherited from Anglian Old English cald; variants with ch- are from West Saxon ċeald.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔːld/
• (Northern) IPA^(key): /kaːld/
• (from the form ċeald) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɛːld/

Adjective

cold (plural and weak singular colde, comparative colder, superlative *coldest)

2. (temperature) cold, cool
3. (weather) cold, cool
4. (locations) having a tendency to be cold
5. cold-feeling, cold when touched, cooled, chilly
6. lifeless, having the pallor of death
7. cold-hearted, indifferent, insensitive
8. distressed, sorrowful, worried
9. (alchemy, medicine) Considered to be alchemically cold

Descendants

• English: cold
• Geordie English: cawd, cauld
• Scots: cald, cauld
• Yola: coale, khoal, cole

References

• “cōld, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-26.

Noun

cold

1. cold, coldness
2. The feeling of coldness or chill
3. Lack of feelings or emotion
4. (alchemy, medicine) Alchemical coldness

Descendants

• English: cold
• Scots: cald, cauld

References

• “cōld, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-26.