cold

cold
   1. dead
   Usually but not exclusively used of hotblooded creatures, although knocked out cold refers to unconsciousness only. Whence several morbidly humorous 19th-century phrases, of which the most common was cold meat, a corpse:
    If you bother with us, I will make meat of you — cold meat. (F. Harris, 1925)
   A cold-meat party was a funeral; a cold-box a coffin: a cold cart a hearse; a cold cook an undertaker; and cold storage the grave.
   2. not easily susceptible to sexual excitement
   The opposite of hot1 but also of someone who fails to be sexually excited on a specific occasion:
    I have often been asked why on my African travels I was cold in regard to the native women. (F. Harris, 1925 — what strange interlocutors he must have met)
   Despite Mr Harris's unwonted abstinence, more of women than of men, as in Shakespeare's cold chastity.
   3. an excuse for an ailment which is taboo or concealed
   Servicemen in the Second World War who contracted gonorrhoea might say that they had a cold. Now used by politicians who wish to conceal infirmity:
    Andropov spent half his 15 months in power seriously ill, supposedly suffering from a 'cold' but in fact lying in a Kremlin hospital hitched up to a dialysis machine with kidney failure and diabetes. {Sunday Telegraph, 27 March 1994)
   See also catch a cold1,2 and diplomatic cold.

How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms. . 2014.

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  • Cold — (k[=o]ld), a. [Compar. {Colder} ( [ e]r); superl. {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… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • cold — [kōld] adj. [ME < OE (Anglian) cald < IE base * gel , cold > COOL, Ger kalt, L gelidus] 1. of a temperature significantly or noticeably lower than average, normal, expected, or comfortable; very chilly; frigid [a cold wind] 2. a) without …   English World dictionary

  • cold — cold, cool, chilly, frigid, freezing, frosty, gelid, icy, glacial, arctic mean having a temperature below that which is normal or comfortable. Cold is the general term, often implying nothing more than a lack of warmth {a cold day} {a cold hand}… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • cold — ► ADJECTIVE 1) of or at a low or relatively low temperature. 2) not feeling or showing emotion or affection. 3) not affected by emotion; objective: cold statistics. 4) (of a colour) containing pale blue or grey and giving no impression of warmth …   English terms dictionary

  • Cold — Cold, n. 1. The relative absence of heat or warmth. [1913 Webster] 2. The sensation produced by the escape of heat; chilliness or chillness. [1913 Webster] When she saw her lord prepared to part, A deadly cold ran shivering to her heart. Dryden.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • cold — cold; cold·ish; cold·ness; cold·slaw; cold·heart·ed·ly; cold·heart·ed·ness; …   English syllables

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