Forms: see prec. [OE. cald, ceald, neut., sb. use of the adjective. Cf. Gothic kald, Ger. kalt, similarly derived. But the cognate langs. generally have in this sense a derivative sb. on OTeut. type *kaldîn-, OHG. chaltî, Ger. kälte, OFris. kelde, Du. koude; cf. OE. celdu, cieldu, ME. CHELDE, now obs.]
1. The opposite or the absence of heat; coldness. a. esp. said of the state of the atmosphere or physical environment, and usually spoken of as a positive agent, perceptible by the sensation that it produces, and by its effects on living things.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8620 (Cott.). Caald [Gött. cold] has slan it, i mistru.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. lxvi. (1495), 183. Heeres … to kepe and saue the brayne fro colde.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xiv. 65. At þe north syde of þe werld, whare comounly es mare intense calde.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 86. Coold, substantyfe, frigus.
1570. Levins, Manip., 218/35. Ye could, frigus.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Feb., 3. The kene colde blowes through my beaten hide.
1611. Bible, Gen. viii. 22. While the earth remaineth, seed-time and haruest, and cold, and heat, and Summer, and Winter, and day and night, shall not cease.
1626. Bacon, Sylva (1677), § 68. Heat and Cold are Natures two hands, whereby she chiefly worketh.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 250. English wheat … will by no means thrive for want of moisture and cold.
1794. Ritson’s Scot. Songs, I. 157 (Jam.). ’Tis not sic cauld that makes me cry.
1833. N. Arnott, Physics (ed. 5), II. 14. The inferior degrees of heat are denoted by the term ‘cold.’
1858. Lardner, Hand-bk. Nat. Phil., Hydrost, etc. 308. The greatest natural cold of which any record has been kept, was that observed by Professor Hanstean between Krasnojarsk and Nishne-Udmiks in 55° N. lat., which he states amounted to –55° (Reaum. ?) = –91·75 F.
b. said of other objects: Coldness.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1942. The colde of deþe þat had him overcome.
1821. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. 33. The bright chains Eat with their burning cold into my bones.
c. In Physics, commonly applied to a temperature below the freezing-point of water (32° Fahr. or zero of Centigrade and Réaumur), as 15 degrees of cold (or of frost).
d. (with a and plural): A cold state of the weather, a low temperature, a frost.
1626. Bacon, Sylva (1677), § 744. We see that in great Colds, one can scarce draw his Breath.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 218. [Plants] not perishing but in excessive Colds.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 97. One hundred winters or colds.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xvii. 62. The colds and storms of January did not hinder him from sending messengers.
e. To be left out in the cold: to be left out of doors without shelter; fig. to be intentionally neglected, to be left to shift for oneself.
1879. T. H. S. Escott, England, I. 451. The unfortunate traveller who is behind time or who comes by a slow train often finds himself left out in the cold [at a railway refreshment room].
1886. D. C. Murray, 1st Person Sing., xx. 153. A distant relative … and he left her out in the cold.
2. The sensation produced by loss of heat from the body, or by exposure to a temperature sensibly lower than that of the body. Hence † To have cold: to be cold, to feel or suffer cold.
c. 1300. Cursor M., 28904 (Cott. Galba MS.). When þou sese any haue hunger or calde.
c. 1300. Havelok, 416. He greten ofte sore, Boþ for hunger and for kold.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XI. 276. Neither kirtel ne cote þeigh þey for colde shulde deye.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XX. xix. Lete vs kepe oure stronge walled Townes vntyl they haue hongre & cold and blowe on their nayles.
1530. Palsgr., 307/2. Chyveryng as one dothe for colde, frilleux.
1647. W. Browne, trans. Polexander, II. 346. The most violent cold of an Ague puts not a man into such an estate as he was, by the excess of his passion.
1786. Burns, Twa Dogs, 82. They maun starve o’ cauld and hunger.
1828. Scott, Tales Grandf., Ser. II. xxxviii. The mother and infant … perishing with cold.
3. fig. A state of feeling comparable to the physical sensation of cold; lack of zeal, enthusiasm or heartiness; dispiritedness, depression.
1616. S. Ward, Coale fr. Altar (1627), 52. Such as forsake the best fellowship, and waxe strange to holy assemblies … how can they but take cold?
1648. Bp. Hall, Breathings Devout Soul (1851), 159. Ah, my Lord God, what heats and colds do I feel in my soul!
1667. Flavel, Saint Indeed (1754), 143. It is because we suffer our hearts to take cold again.
1849. Robertson, Serm., Ser. I. ii. (1866), 22. The cold of human desertion.
4. An indisposition of the body caused by exposure to cold. a. gen.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 60. He … died þer for colde in Lumbardie o chance.
c. 1450. Poem, in Rel. Ant., I. 196. Ȝyff thow hawe colde in thi hede.
1494. Fabyan, VI. ccxii. 227. Swanus … went to Jherusalem … and dyed by the waye of colde that he had taken of goynge barefote.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph., I. (Arb.), 49. If he … haue taken colde in his arme.
1545. Raynold, Byrth Mankynde, 113. By dysease in the brestes, or by takyng of colde in the same.
1842. Tennyson, Morte D’Arthur, 166. I fear My wound hath taken cold, and I shall die.
b. esp. An inflammatory condition of the mucous membrane of the respiratory organs, accompanied by catarrh, hoarseness and cough. Hence, to catch, get or take (a) cold, have a cold, etc.
When mainly confined to the nose and pharynx, it is a ‘cold in the head’; when accompanied with running at the eyes, a ‘crying cold.’
1537. State Papers Hen. VIII., IV. (1836), 91. If I take any cold, incontinent the lax commythe agayne.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., III. ii. 193. Fal. What disease hast thou? Bul. A whorson cold sir, a cough sir, which I caught with Ringing in the Kings affayres, vpon his Coronation day, sir.
1609. B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, III. i. One that has catched a cold, sir, and can scarce be heard six inches off.
1679. Lond. Gaz., No. 1436/4. His Majesty … has been indisposed for some days by a Cold he took.
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), Introd. p. xxii. Obstructed Perspiration (vulgarly called catching Cold) is one great Source of Diseases.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 154, ¶ 19. All whom I entreat to sing are troubled with colds.
1751. Eliza Heywood, Betsy Thoughtless, IV. 287. Lady Loveit, having got a cold, had complained of some little disorder.
1871. Sir T. Watson, Princ. & Pract. Physic (ed. 5), II. 55. Suffering under what is popularly called ‘a crying cold.’
1872. W. Aitken, Sc. & Pract. Med. (ed. 6), II. 725. The symptoms of ‘a common cold.’
1886. Morley, Crit. Misc., III. 17. The people of … St. Kilda believed that the arrival of a ship in the harbour inflicted on the islanders epidemic colds in the head. (See also CATCH v. 42, etc.)
5. Comb. a. objective, as cold-braving, -catching, -producing, -taking; b. instrumental, as cold-crumpled, -drenched, -engendered, -foundered, -nipt, -slain, etc.; c. cold-proof, proof against cold.
1826. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. II. 412. That … *cold-braving, shade-seeking plant. Ibid. (1824), Ser. I. (1863), 159. The clothes-spoiling, the *cold-catching.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. V., cclxxx. The *cold-drench’t Soyle Verdant with Glorie.
1626. T. H[awkins], trans. Caussin’s Holy Crt., 23. If a little Planet happen to be eclypsed, who can tell the newes thereof, but some *Coldfoundred Mathematician … in the shady obscurityes of the night.
1826. H. H. Wilson, trans. Vikrama & Urvasi, 93. Her soft cheek was paler than the leaf *Cold-nipped and shrivelled.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 6 July, 2/3. The aggregate daily (i.e. per twenty-four hours) *cold-producing effect of which amount to the manufacture of 21,000 tons of ice.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxvii. 354. A nearly *cold-proof covering.
1596. R. L[inche], Diella (1877), 78. That long hath knockt *cold-staruen at thy dore.
1621. Sanderson, Serm., I. 181. That *cold-taking [is] but the occasion of the ague.
