Cold a. [Compar. Colder superl. Coldest.]
1. Deprived of heat, or having a low temperature; not warm or hot; gelid; frigid. “The snowy top of cold Olympis.”
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.”
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.”
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, n., 2.
Cold blood. See under Blood, n., 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.