| English Dictionary |
COLD
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does cold mean?
• COLD (noun)
The noun COLD has 3 senses:
1. a mild viral infection involving the nose and respiratory passages (but not the lungs)
2. the absence of heat
3. the sensation produced by low temperatures
Familiarity information: COLD used as a noun is uncommon.
• COLD (adjective)
The adjective COLD has 13 senses:
1. having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
2. extended meanings; especially of psychological coldness; without human warmth or emotion
3. having lost freshness through passage of time
4. (color) giving no sensation of warmth
5. marked by errorless familiarity
6. lacking originality or spontaneity; no longer new
7. so intense as to be almost uncontrollable
8. sexually unresponsive
9. without compunction or human feeling
10. feeling or showing no enthusiasm
11. unconscious from a blow or shock or intoxication
12. of a seeker; far from the object sought
13. lacking the warmth of life
Familiarity information: COLD used as an adjective is familiar.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
A mild viral infection involving the nose and respiratory passages (but not the lungs)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Synonyms:
cold; common cold
Context example:
will they never find a cure for the common cold?
Hypernyms ("cold" is a kind of...):
communicable disease (a disease that can be communicated from one person to another)
respiratory disease; respiratory disorder; respiratory illness (a disease affecting the respiratory system)
Meronyms (parts of "cold"):
rhinorrhea (persistent watery mucus discharge from the nose (as in the common cold))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cold"):
head cold (a common cold affecting the nasal passages and resulting in congestion and sneezing and headache)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The absence of heat
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Synonyms:
cold; coldness; frigidity; frigidness; low temperature
Context example:
cold is a vasoconstrictor
Hypernyms ("cold" is a kind of...):
temperature (the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or environment (corresponding to its molecular activity))
pressor; vasoconstrictive; vasoconstrictor (any agent that causes a narrowing of an opening of a blood vessel: cold or stress or nicotine or epinephrine or norepinephrine or angiotensin or vasopressin or certain drugs; maintains or increases blood pressure)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cold"):
chill; gelidity; iciness (coldness due to a cold environment)
chilliness; coolness; nip (the property of being moderately cold)
frostiness (coldness as evidenced by frost)
cool (the quality of being at a refreshingly low temperature)
Derivation:
cold (having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The sensation produced by low temperatures
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Synonyms:
cold; coldness
Context example:
the cold helped clear his head
Hypernyms ("cold" is a kind of...):
temperature (the somatic sensation of cold or heat)
Derivation:
cold (having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration)
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: coldest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
Context example:
a cold beer
Similar:
unheated; unwarmed (not having been heated or warmed)
stone-cold (completely cold)
shivery (cold enough to cause shivers)
refrigerated (made or kept cold by refrigeration)
refrigerant; refrigerating (causing cooling or freezing)
ice-cold (as cold as ice)
heatless (without generating heat)
crisp; frosty; nipping; nippy; snappy (pleasantly cold and invigorating)
frosty; rimed; rimy (covered with frost)
frigorific (causing cold; cooling or chilling)
chilly; parky (appreciably or disagreeably cold)
bleak; cutting; raw (unpleasantly cold and damp)
arctic; frigid; gelid; glacial; icy; polar (extremely cold)
algid (chilly)
acold (of persons; feeling cold)
frore (very cold)
Also:
frozen (turned into ice; affected by freezing or by long and severe cold)
cool (neither warm nor very cold; giving relief from heat)
Attribute:
temperature (the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or environment (corresponding to its molecular activity))
Antonym:
hot (used of physical heat; having a high or higher than desirable temperature or giving off heat or feeling or causing a sensation of heat or burning)
Derivation:
cold (the absence of heat)
cold; coldness (the sensation produced by low temperatures)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Extended meanings; especially of psychological coldness; without human warmth or emotion
Context example:
the concert left me cold
Similar:
emotionless; passionless (unmoved by feeling)
frigid; frosty; frozen; glacial; icy; wintry (devoid of warmth and cordiality; expressive of unfriendliness or disdain)
Also:
passionless (not passionate)
cool (psychologically cool and unenthusiastic; unfriendly or unresponsive or showing dislike)
Attribute:
emotionalism; emotionality (emotional nature or quality)
Antonym:
hot (extended meanings; especially of psychological heat; marked by intensity or vehemence especially of passion or enthusiasm)
Derivation:
coldness (a lack of affection or enthusiasm)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Having lost freshness through passage of time
Context example:
dogs attempting to catch a cold scent
Similar:
stale (lacking freshness, palatability, or showing deterioration from age)
Sense 4
Meaning:
(color) giving no sensation of warmth
Context example:
a cold bluish grey
Similar:
cool (inducing the impression of coolness; used especially of greens and blues and violets when referring to color)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Marked by errorless familiarity
Context example:
had her lines cold before rehearsals started
Similar:
perfect (being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Lacking originality or spontaneity; no longer new
Synonyms:
cold; dusty; moth-eaten; stale
Context example:
stale news
Similar:
unoriginal (not original; not being or productive of something fresh and unusual)
Sense 7
Meaning:
So intense as to be almost uncontrollable
Context example:
cold fury gripped him
Similar:
intense (possessing or displaying a distinctive feature to a heightened degree)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Sexually unresponsive
Synonyms:
cold; frigid
Context example:
a frigid woman
Similar:
unloving (not giving or reciprocating affection)
Derivation:
coldness (a lack of affection or enthusiasm)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Without compunction or human feeling
Synonyms:
cold; cold-blooded; inhuman; insensate
Context example:
insensate destruction
Similar:
inhumane (lacking and reflecting lack of pity or compassion)
Sense 10
Meaning:
Feeling or showing no enthusiasm
Context example:
a cold response to the new play
Similar:
unenthusiastic (not enthusiastic; lacking excitement or ardor)
Derivation:
coldness (a lack of affection or enthusiasm)
Sense 11
Meaning:
Unconscious from a blow or shock or intoxication
Context example:
pass out cold
Similar:
unconscious (not conscious; lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception as if asleep or dead)
Sense 12
Meaning:
Of a seeker; far from the object sought
Similar:
far (located at a great distance in time or space or degree)
Sense 13
Meaning:
Lacking the warmth of life
Context example:
cold in his grave
Similar:
dead (no longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life)
Context examples
Holmes’s cold and inexorable manner showed the secretary that it was useless to argue with him.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
His face was grave, and his manner was cold in the extreme.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold sneer upon his pale face.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
She looked up at him with cold eyes.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
As he caught her hands and led her to the Morris chair he noticed how cold they were.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Glumdalclitch and I were much fatigued: I had gotten a small cold, but the poor girl was so ill as to be confined to her chamber.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
On the other hand, the full moon of November 12 might simply show you that you need to slow down and rest, for you could be fighting a cold.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
My own heart grew cold as ice, and I could hear the gasp of Arthur, as we recognised the features of Lucy Westenra.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
“Well, Cooky?” he began, with a suaveness that was cold and of the temper of steel.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
“All I get is fifty for it,” he grumbled; “an’ I wouldn’t do it over for a thousand, cold cash.”
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
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