cold-blooded
Definitions
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When I come to think the matter over in cold blood -
WordNet 3.6
- adj cold-blooded without compunction or human feeling "in cold blood","cold-blooded killing","insensate destruction"
- adj cold-blooded having cold blood (in animals whose body temperature is not internally regulated)
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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- Cold-blooded Deficient in sensibility or feeling; hard-hearted.
- Cold-blooded Having cold blood; -- said of fish or animals whose blood is but little warmer than the water or air about them.
- Cold-blooded Not thoroughbred; -- said of animals, as horses, which are derived from the common stock of a country.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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- cold-blooded Having cold blood; hematocryal. In zoöl, noting those animals the temperature of whose blood ranges from the freezing-point or near it to 90° F., in accordance with that of the surrounding medium, or those whose blood is very little higher in temperature than their habitat. Among vertebrates, the reptiles, amphibians, and fishes are technically called cold-blooded.
- cold-blooded See Hœmatocrya.
- cold-blooded Not thoroughbred; of common or mongrel stock: applied to horses that are not full-blooded.
- cold-blooded Sensitive to cold: said of persons who feel the cold more than is usual: as, a cold-blooded man is obliged to dress warmly in winter.
- cold-blooded Figuratively, without sensibility or feeling; unsympathetic; without the usual feelings of humanity; characterized by such lack of sensibility: as, a cold-blooded villain; cold-blooded advice; a cold-blooded murder.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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- adj Cold-blooded having cold blood, as fishes: without feeling: hard-hearted—of persons or actions
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Quotations
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“Nothing splendid was ever created in cold blood. Heat is required to forge anything. Every great accomplishment is the story of a flaming heart.” -
“Our live experiences, fixed in aphorisms, stiffen into cold epigrams. Our heart's blood, as we write it, turns to mere dull ink.” -
“If you strike a child, take care that you strike it in anger, even at the risk of maiming it for life. A blow in cold blood neither can nor should be forgiven.”
Idioms
In cold blood - If something is done in cold blood, it is done ruthlessly, without any emotion.
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Etymology
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
A.S. ceald; Scot, cauld, Ger. kalt; cog. also with Eng. cool, Ice. kala, to freeze, L. gelidus—gelu, frost.
Usage
In literature:
But they won't, the cold-blooded highway robbers!
"Under Handicap" by Jackson Gregory
Down here 550,000 Armenians have been butchered in cold blood.
"My War Experiences in Two Continents" by Sarah Macnaughtan
It is enough to make your blood run cold.
"Sunny Slopes" by Ethel Hueston
Grant is an unmitigated, cold-blooded scoundrel, and the treachery is his.
"My Lady of Doubt" by Randall Parrish
This inert, cold-blooded shadow; was this all that was left of his brother?
"Prisoners" by Mary Cholmondeley
That is quite different to being put to death in cold blood.
"By Right of Conquest" by G. A. Henty
Look at the difference between a thoroughbred and a cold-blooded horse!
"The Best Short Stories of 1915" by Various
He thought the matter over cold-bloodedly, as a merchant might consider some commercial proposition which is put before him.
"The Daffodil Mystery" by Edgar Wallace
The Very Young Man's blood ran cold.
"The Girl in the Golden Atom" by Raymond King Cummings
No, I won't," he said, handing the rifle back; "I can't shoot in cold blood.
"Middy and Ensign" by G. Manville Fenn
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In poetry:
Perish the heartless wretch that first
Could learn to love his cursed gold;
To him our brother's blood we owe,
Through him our sires are dead and cold.
Could learn to love his cursed gold;
To him our brother's blood we owe,
Through him our sires are dead and cold.
"Anacreon: Ode 66" by Edwin Arnold
Slow's the blood that was quick and stormy,
Smooth and cold is the bridal bed;
I must wait till he whistles for me-
Proud young Death would not turn his head.
Smooth and cold is the bridal bed;
I must wait till he whistles for me-
Proud young Death would not turn his head.
"The Trifler" by Dorothy Parker
Is your continent cold from the ice-age still, that the sun is
so angry?
Is the blood of your continent somewhat reptilian still,
That the sun should be greedy for it?
so angry?
Is the blood of your continent somewhat reptilian still,
That the sun should be greedy for it?
"Eagle In New Mexico" by D H Lawrence
Until we rose together, arm in arm,
And fled together back into the world.
What brought her now, in the semblance of the warm,
Out of cold spaces, damned by colder blood?
And fled together back into the world.
What brought her now, in the semblance of the warm,
Out of cold spaces, damned by colder blood?
"The Dark And The Fair" by Stanley Kunitz
And when the pale and cold blood of my twilight
Will have tarnished my Mediterranean beat,
Down there, in New South Wales,
The dawn of a new summer day will arise... How sweet!
Will have tarnished my Mediterranean beat,
Down there, in New South Wales,
The dawn of a new summer day will arise... How sweet!
"Cote D’Azur — Nice" by Henry Jean-Marie Levet
It was about the next springtide:
She pined and faded where she stood,
Yet spake no word of ill or good;
She had the hard, cold Edwards' blood
In all her veins--and so she died.
She pined and faded where she stood,
Yet spake no word of ill or good;
She had the hard, cold Edwards' blood
In all her veins--and so she died.
"Grandmother Tenterden" by Francis Bret Harte
In news:
O'Brien: Freeh report shows Penn State officials made cold-blooded decisions.
Kevin Durant is becoming a cold-blooded closer for Thunder.
Life in prison for ' cold-blooded killing' Jurors reflect after convicting Brian Minton in Josh Bailey murder.
Storm's Sue Bird is one cold-blooded shooter.
Man killed ' cold-bloodedly '.
Blood oranges are the sexpots of the cold-weather fruits.
Dinosaurs may not have been cold-blooded species.
Video appears to show Syrian rebels executing captured soldiers in cold blood.
The cold-blooded drug lord -- and unequivocal star of the popular HBO documentary series -- led a reign of terror on Miami in the early 1980s.
' In Cold Blood ' too bloody for students.
A Kazakh border guard has confessed to killing 14 fellow soldiers and a herder in cold blood at a remote post near the Chinese frontier, prosecutors said on Thursday, adding that hazing, or severe bullying, may have prompted the massacre.
But the sea lamprey is not a danger to humans, as it only preys on cold-blooded creatures.
Though we remain opposed to the death penalty, the law was applied justly to this cold-blooded killer.
Jack, a brutal alcoholic, makes his living poaching game, but Mike can't believe Jack is a cold-blooded killer.
Two of the best characters ever on TV, but which is more cold-blooded.
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In science:
Briefly, rats were anesthetized with diethyl ether and perfused transcardially with ice-cold physiological saline to flush all blood components from the vasculature.
Post-ischaemic treatment with the cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor nimesulide reduces blood-brain barrier disruption and leukocyte infiltration following transient focal cerebral ischaemia in rats
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