in cold blood
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Related to in cold blood: Truman Capote
in cold blood
Ruthlessly and without feeling any remorse. Typically said of a murder that is committed in a calm and deliberate manner. This was no crime of passion—he killed them in cold blood, as they slept!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
in cold blood
Fig. without feeling; with cruel intent. (Frequently said of a crime, especially murder.) The killer walked up and shot the woman in cold blood. How insulting! For a person to say something like that in cold blood is just horrible.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
in cold blood
In a purposely ruthless and unfeeling manner, as in The whole family was murdered in cold blood. This expression alludes to the notion that blood is the seat of emotion and is hot in passion and cold in calm. The term therefore means not "in the heat of passion," but "in a calculated, deliberate manner." [Late 1500s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
in cold blood
COMMON If a person kills someone in cold blood, they kill them in a calm and deliberate way, rather than in anger or self-defence. They murdered my brother. They shot him down in cold blood. She was executed in cold blood while her boyfriend looked on helplessly. Note: You can describe a killing or a killer as cold-blooded. This is just another attempt to excuse the cold-blooded murder of an innocent woman. It was clear to Blackburn that she was a cold-blooded killer. Note: People use these expressions to express shock or horror at a killing. Note: In medieval times, some people believed that certain emotions changed the temperature of the blood.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
in cold blood
without feeling or mercy; ruthlessly.According to medieval physiology blood was naturally hot, and so this phrase refers to an unnatural state in which someone can carry out a (hot-blooded) deed of passion or violence without the normal heating of the blood. Compare with make your blood curdle and make your blood run cold (at blood).
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
in cold ˈblood
deliberately and calmly, without showing any pity: The innocent victims were shot in cold blood. OPPOSITE: in the heat of the moment ▶ ˌcold-ˈblooded adj.: a cold-blooded murderFarlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
in cold blood
mod. without feeling; with cruel intent. Rocko kills in cold blood and never gives it a thought.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
in cold blood
Deliberately, coldly, and dispassionately.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
cold blood, in
Calculatedly ruthless. This expression comes from the days when it was commonly believed that blood rules the temper and was boiling hot when one was excited and ice-cold when one was calm. The French call it sang-froid, a term taken over in English with the same meaning. Thus Byron wrote of Don Juan, “Cross-legg’d with great sang-froid among the scorching ruins he sat smoking.” In more recent times Truman Capote used the term as the title of a detailed account (1965) of a deliberate act of murder.
See also: cold
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer