Dictionary

bone-chilling en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈboʊnˌtʃɪl.ɪŋ/ (US)
• /ˈbəʊnˌtʃɪl.ɪŋ/ (UK)

Meanings

1. Very cold.
   • They went out on to Seventh Avenue. The rain had stopped, but 'Hawkins', the bone-chilling wind from the north which the negroes greet with a reverent 'Hawkins is here', had come instead to keep the streets free of their usual crowds. 1954, Ian Fleming, “Nigger Heaven”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 50:
   • I arrived on a day of this last cold bone-chilling month of December. 1861, “Volunteers at Hythe”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round, volume IV, page 402:
2. (figuratively) Causing great terror or horror; blood-curdling.
   • Ever since that bone-chilling post-Super Bowl two-parter […] Reid just can't say no to drugs. 2007 February 26, Jonathan Small, “Chic geek: Ex model Matthew Gray Gubler channels his inner nerd on Criminal Minds”, in TV guide, page 23:

Forms

Coordinates

frosty · chilly · nippy