cold adjective [comparative Colder (-ẽr); superlative Coldest.] [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, adjective, Chill, noun]

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.

Cold abscess

See under Abscess.

Cold blast

See under Blast, noun, 2.

Cold blood

See under Blood, noun, 8.

Cold chill

an ague fit. Wright.

Cold chisel

a chisel of peculiar strength and hardness, for cutting cold metal. Weale.

Cold cream

See under Cream.

Cold slaw

See Cole slaw.

In cold blood

without excitement or passion; deliberately.

He was slain in cold blood after the fight was over. Sir W. Scott.

To give one the cold shoulder

to treat one with neglect.

Syn. – Gelid; bleak; frigid; chill; indifferent; unconcerned; passionless; reserved; unfeeling; stoical.

Cold noun

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 sore (Med.)

a vesicular eruption appearing about the mouth as the result of a cold, or in the course of any disease attended with fever.

To leave one out in the cold

to overlook or neglect him. [Colloq.]

Cold intransitive verb To become cold. [Obs.] Chaucer.