cold

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Having a low temperature, or feeling a low temperature.

   It was a cold winter morning.

2. 2
   adj

   Unfriendly and showing no warmth or emotion.

   She gave me a cold stare and walked away.

3. 3
   adj

   Not fresh or recent, so that a trail or clue is hard to follow.

   By the time police arrived, the trail had gone cold.

4. 4
   adj

   Unconscious, especially after a blow.

   One punch knocked him out cold.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Cold is an Old English word descending from an ancient root also represented by Latin gelu, meaning frost. The same root lies behind related words including cool, congeal, and jelly.

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”). Cognates Cognate with Scots cald, cauld (“cold”), Saterland Frisian koold (“cold”), West Frisian kâld (“cold”), Dutch koud (“cold”), Low German kold, koolt, koold (“cold”), German kalt (“cold”), Danish kold (“cold”), Norwegian kald (“cold”), Swedish kall (“cold”).

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary