coolness

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   calm and unruffled self-assurance

   They performed with all the coolness of veterans.

2. 2
   noun

   Moderate chilliness.

   I know a place of all sweet coolnesses; / a little island, like an emerald, set / in the clear argent of a river, that is / Itself a shining net.

3. 3
   noun

   Calmness, confidence, or level-headedness.

   De Coude was the personification of coolness—was he not the best shot in France?

4. 4
   noun

   Conflict or hostility or an instance of such that stands in contrast to expected friendliness or interest.

   In the midst of enemies, Irish and English, Court treacheries and coolnesses, Strafford depended solely upon Laud, and no one other support.

From Middle English colnes, colnesse, from Old English cōlnes, cœ̄lnes, cēlnes (“coolness; cool air, breeze”), from Proto-West Germanic *kōlinassī, equivalent to cool + -ness. Cognate with Middle High German kuolnisse, küelnisse (“cooling, coolness”).

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