9 N‑COUNT If you have a cold , you have a mild, very common illness which makes you sneeze a lot and gives you a sore throat or a cough.
10 → see also common cold
11 PHRASE If you catch cold , or catch a cold , you become ill with a cold. □ Let's dry our hair so we don't catch cold.
12 PHRASE If something leaves you cold , it fails to excite or interest you. □ Lawrence is one of those writers who either excite you enormously or leave you cold.
13 PHRASE If someone is out cold , they are unconscious or sleeping very heavily. □ She was out cold but still breathing.
14 in cold blood → see blood
15 to get cold feet → see foot
16 to blow hot and cold → see hot
17 to pour cold water on something → see water SYNONYMS cold ADJ 1
chilly: It was a chilly afternoon.
biting: …a raw, biting northerly wind.
freezing: The cinema was freezing.
icy: An icy wind blew hard across the open spaces.
cooclass="underline" I felt a current of cool air.
co ld-bloo ded
1 ADJ Someone who is cold-blooded does not show any pity or emotion. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ …a cold-blooded murderer. □ This was a brutal and cold-blooded killing.
2 ADJ Cold-blooded animals have a body temperature that changes according to the surrounding temperature. Reptiles, for example, are cold-blooded.
co ld ca ll (cold calls , cold calling , cold called )
1 N‑COUNT If someone makes a cold call , they telephone or visit someone they have never contacted, without making an appointment, in order to try and sell something. □ She had worked as a call centre operator making cold calls for time-share holidays.
2 VERB To cold call means to make a cold call. □ [V ] You should refuse to meet anyone who cold calls with an offer of financial advice. [Also V n] ● cold calling N‑UNCOUNT □ Cold calling has given the industry a bad name.
co ld co m|fort N‑UNCOUNT If you say that a slightly encouraging fact or event is cold comfort to someone, you mean that it gives them little or no comfort because their situation is so difficult or unpleasant. □ [+ to/for ] These figures may look good on paper but are cold comfort to the islanders themselves.
co ld cuts N‑PLURAL Cold cuts are thin slices of cooked meat which are served cold. [AM ]
co ld fi sh N‑SING If you say that someone is a cold fish , you think that they are unfriendly and unemotional. [DISAPPROVAL ]
co ld frame (cold frames ) N‑COUNT A cold frame is a wooden frame with a glass top in which you grow small plants to protect them from cold weather.
co ld-hea rted ADJ [usu ADJ n] A cold-hearted person does not feel any affection or sympathy towards other people. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ …a cold-hearted killer.
co ld shou l|der (cold-shoulders , cold-shouldering , cold-shouldered ) The form cold-shoulder is used for the verb. 1 N‑SING If one person gives another the cold shoulder , they behave towards them in an unfriendly way, to show them that they do not care about them or that they want them to go away. □ But when Gough looked to Haig for support, he was given the cold shoulder.
2 VERB If one person cold-shoulders another, they give them the cold-shoulder. □ [V n] He was cold-shouldered by his team-mates for bringing shame on the club.
co ld snap (cold snaps ) N‑COUNT [usu sing] A cold snap is a short period of cold and icy weather.
co ld sore (cold sores ) N‑COUNT Cold sores are small sore spots that sometimes appear on or near someone's lips and nose when they have a cold. [mainly BRIT ] in AM, usually use fever blister
co ld sto r|age N‑UNCOUNT If something such as food is put in cold storage , it is kept in an artificially-cooled place in order to preserve it. □ The strawberries are kept in cold storage to prevent them spoiling during transportation.
co ld store (cold stores ) N‑COUNT A cold store is a building or room which is artificially cooled so that food can be preserved in it. [BRIT ]
co ld swea t (cold sweats ) N‑COUNT [usu sing, usu in/into N ] If you are in a cold sweat , you are sweating and feel cold, usually because you are very afraid or nervous. □ He awoke from his sleep in a cold sweat.
co ld tu r|key N‑UNCOUNT Cold turkey is the unpleasant physical reaction that people experience when they suddenly stop taking a drug that they have become addicted to. [INFORMAL ] □ The quickest way to get her off the drug was to let her go cold turkey.
Co ld Wa r also cold war N‑PROPER The Cold War was the period of hostility and tension between the Soviet bloc and the Western powers that followed the Second World War. □ …the first major crisis of the post-Cold War era.
cole|slaw /koʊ lslɔː/ N‑UNCOUNT Coleslaw is a salad of chopped raw cabbage, carrots, onions, and sometimes other vegetables, usually with mayonnaise.
col|ic /kɒ l I k/ N‑UNCOUNT Colic is an illness in which you get severe pains in your stomach and bowels. Babies especially suffer from colic.
col|icky /kɒ l I ki/ ADJ If someone, especially a baby, is colicky , they are suffering from colic.
co|li|tis /kəla I t I s/ N‑UNCOUNT Colitis is an illness in which your colon becomes inflamed. [TECHNICAL ]
col|labo|rate /kəlæ bəre I t/ (collaborates , collaborating , collaborated )