Dictionary

catch-coldy en · ADJ

Etymology

From catch cold + -y.

Meanings

1. (colloquial, dated) Prone to catching colds or particularly susceptible to illness during cold weather.
   • "I am different. I am not a catch-coldy person, and I have a thicker mop of hair," said Lady Matilda frankly. "Besides which, I don't know that you ever saw me sitting out of doors in a sharp frost with a bare head." 1884, William Blackwood & Sons, “The Baby's Grandmother.— Part V”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, page 339:
   • Cricket on the whole has been interesting to watch, and the grounds are hard and fast, but the northerly direction of the wind has made it catch-coldy work in the pavilion. We are still expecting summer. 1898, Unattributed, “The late Mr. I. D. Walker.”, in Country Life, page 44:
   • Yes, though I had known him since I was a child, and he was grey then, I supposed him not more than seventy at the very most, delicate and catch-coldy because of his foreign birth. 1926, violet hunt, i have this to say: the story of my flurried years, page 274:
   • Have you taken plenty of camphor pillules? Because Russia in this transition month is very catch-coldy. I hope you've remembered goloshes ? 1919, Johnston, Harry Hamilton, Sir, 1858-1927, “VIII Paul's Love Story”, in The Gay-Dombeys; a novel, page 106:

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