cold – English adjective declension

English adjective forms of cold

Adjective: cold

Comparison Forms

Synthetic

Comparativecolder
Superlativecoldest

Perifrastic

Sample Sentences

  • A cold wind whistled through the trees.
  • As cold waters to a thirstie soule: so is good newes from a farre countrey. [1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 25:25:]
  • Oh cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command: for this is thy dominion! [1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Four. The Last of the Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 137:]
  • I had always supposed that playboys didn't give a hoot for anything except blondes and cold bottles. [1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter V, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:]
  • The forecast is that it will be very cold today.
  • As fruits of hotter countries, transearthed in colder climates, have vigour enough in themselves to be fructuous according to their nature: but, that they are hindered by the chilling nips of the air, and the soil, wherein they are planted. [1904, Owen Felltham, William Henry Oliphant Smeaton, Resolves:]
  • Antarctica is the coldest, iciest place on Earth, which makes the recent warming event particularly worrying for many scientists. […] Larter said this happens less frequently in the East Antarctic because the ocean water there is much colder. [2022 March 25, Rachel Ramirez and Hafsa Khalil, “Antarctic ice shelf nearly the size of Los Angeles collapsed as temperatures soared to 40 above normal”, in CNN:]
  • The current high temperature expected for Kansas City on Saturday is around 5 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, which would be the coldest high temperature on record in the area for the date, according to CNN Weather. […] But could it become cold enough for officials to cancel the showdown between the Chiefs and Dolphins? [2024 January 13, Ashley R. Williams, “NFL moves Pittsburgh at Buffalo playoff game to Monday due to winter storm, Miami at Kansas City is still on for tonight”, in CNN:]
  • She was so cold she was shivering.
  • She shot me a cold glance before turning her back.
  • At the end of a week, she could bear the suspense no longer, and so went humbly to her old home and sought forgiveness. She was not repulsed, but her reception was cold; and this hurt her almost as badly. [1850, T. S. Arthur, “Happy on a Little”, in Sketches of Life and Character, Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, →OCLC, page 89:]
  • "Suppose someone pops in?" "Don't be silly. Mrs Cream is working on her book. Phyllis is in her room, typing Upjohn's speech. Wilbert's gone for a walk. Upjohn isn't here. The only character who could pop in would be the Brinkley Court ghost. If it does, give it a cold look and walk through it. That'll teach it not to come butting in where it isn't wanted, ha ha." [1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:]
  • Yet oft when sundown skirts the moor
  • ⁠An inner trouble I behold,
  • ⁠A spectral doubt which makes me cold,
  • That I shall be thy mate no more, […] [1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XL”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 63:]
  • Let's look at this tomorrow with a cold head.
  • He's a nice guy, but the cold facts say we should fire him.
  • The cold truth is that states rarely undertake military action unless their national interests are at stake.
  • He was assigned cold calls for the first three months.
  • The one thing considered the brass ring in selling insurance was making a sale on a cold canvass. Cold canvassing was the most dreaded exercise for most insurance salesmen. [2019, Kelly D. Harrison, Air Force Cop: An Autobiography, page 100:]
  • I knocked him out cold.
  • After one more beer he passed out cold.
  • Before Mr Big could utter another word, Dad’s false leg crashed down through the window… …and the wooden foot bashed Mr Big hard on the head. The crime boss collapsed to the floor, out cold. [2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:]
  • Practice your music scales until you know them cold.
  • Try both these maneuvers until you have them cold and can do them in the dark without thinking.
  • Rehearse your lines until you have them down cold.
  • Keep that list in front of you, or memorize it cold.
  • With that receipt, we have them cold for fraud.
  • Criminal interrogation. Initially they will dream up explanations faster than you could ever do so, but when they become fatigued, often they will acknowledge that you have them cold.
  • "Either Upjohn agrees to drop that libel suit or he doesn't get these notes, as he calls them, and without them he won't be able to utter a word. He'll have to come across with the price of the papers. Won't he, Jeeves?"
  • "He would appear to have no alternative, miss."
  • "Unless he wants to get up on that platform and stand there opening and shutting his mouth like a goldfish. We've got him cold." [1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:]
  • There were more than a few unforgettable moments from Sunday's Game 7 showdown between the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings. Steph Curry came up with an epic performance on a record-setting evening, and he also produced one of the coldest photos of the NBA Playoffs thus far. [2023 May 1, Paolo Songco, “Warriors star Steph Curry's cold 'night night' pic vs. Kings goes completely viral”, in ClutchPoints, archived from the original on 30 May 2023:]
  • Lowkey she so cold for that [2023 August 3, @67x4L, Twitter, archived from the original on 09 Nov 2023:]
  • Indians see this fit and think it's the coldest thing ever [2023 August 6, @SUPERTHYROID, Twitter, archived from the original on 08 Nov 2023:]
  • cold plants [1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:]
  • What a deal of cold business doth a man misspend the better part of life in! [1641, Ben Jonson, Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter:]
  • The jest grows cold[…]when it comes on in a second scene. [1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:]
  • a cold scent
  • Smell this business with a sense as cold / As is a dead man's nose. [c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:]
  • You're cold … getting warmer … hot! You've found it!
  • I can't believe she said that...that was cold!
  • River Song: (upon seeing the still-living Doctor, moments after he made her and two other friends watch what they thought was his death) This is cold. Even by your standards, this is cold. [2011 April 23, The Impossible Astronaut (Doctor Who), season series 6, episode 1:]
  • "At the risk of sounding cold though, I'm glad he's gone. His abandonment left me in Aunt Fara's custody, and that's honestly the best thing he's ever done for me." [2015, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain, volume 3, page 237:]
  • "That's right," Jackson said. "The Old Man will be pleased to welcome you." There was eagerness in his reedy voice. "What do you say? We'll take care of you. Feed you, bring you cold plants and animals. For a week maybe?" [1953, Philip K. Dick, “Planet for Transients”, in Fantastic Universe magazine, number Oct-Nov 1953, page 64:]
  • Therefore, to avoid unnecessary delay in the trouble-shooting procedure, it is good practice to make a resistance check on a "cold" circuit (before applying power), to determine whether resistance values are normal. [1956, Philco Corporation, Handbook of Test Methods and Practices, page 3–3:]

Adjectives inflected like cold

sallow, smooth, slight, sleigh, sordid, somber, shweet, shrill, shrewd, yellow, yaller, hard knock, DRY, Greek, cut short, unquiet, unclean, indiscreet, chipper, straicht, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)

Etymology

1. Inherited 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 (“cold”), a participle form of *kalaną (“to be cold, to freeze”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to be cold, to freeze”).
2. Cognates
3. Cognate with Scots cauld (“cold”), Saterland Frisian koold (“cold”), West Frisian kâld (“cold”), Alemannic German chalt, choalt, cholt, chélte (“cold”), Bavarian ckolt, kholt, koid, kòlt (“cold”), Central Franconian kalt (“cold”), Cimbrian kalt, khalt (“cold”), Dutch koud (“cold”), German kalt (“cold”), Low German kold, koolt (“cold”), Luxembourgish kal (“cold”), Mòcheno khòlt, kòlt (“cold”), Vilamovian kāłt (“cold”), Yiddish קאַלט (kalt, “cold”), Danish kold (“cold”), Faroese and Icelandic kaldur (“cold”), Norwegian Bokmål kald (“cold”), Norwegian Nynorsk kald, kald’u (“cold”), Swedish kall (“cold”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌻𐌳𐍃 (kalds, “cold”); also Latin gelū, gelum, gelus (“frost; chill, cold”), Belarusian хо́лад (xólad, “cold”), Bulgarian хлад (hlad, “chill, coolness”), Czech chlad (“cold”), Macedonian лад (lad, “shade; coolness”), Polish chłód (“cold”), Russian and Ukrainian хо́лод (xólod, “cold”), Serbo-Croatian хла̑д, hlȃd (“shade”), Sanskrit जड (jaḍa, “cold; stiff”), जल (jala, “water”). Related to cool. See: Dutch Adjectives 'koud', German Adjectives 'kalt', Swedish Adjectives 'kall', Gothic Adjectives '𐌺𐌰𐌻𐌳𐍃'.

Verbs referencing "cold"

German Adjectives kalt.