cold shoulder en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
See give someone the cold shoulder.
Meanings
-
(idiomatic) A deliberate act of disrespect; a slight or snub.
Winterbourne wondered how she felt about all the cold shoulders that were turned toward her, and sometimes it annoyed him to suspect that she did not feel at all.
1879, Henry James, Daisy Miller, London: Harper & Brothers:I went meekly aboard a few of the boats that lay packed together like sardines at the long St. Louis wharf, and very humbly inquired for the pilots, but got only a cold shoulder and short words from mates and clerks.
1883, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], Life on the Mississippi, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, →OCLC:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| coldshoulder | alternative | lexicographic | |
| cold shoulders | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| cold-shoulder | alternative | lexicographic |
Relateds
give someone the cold shoulder
Translations (3)
ru холо́дный приём (a slight or snub) · bg хладен прием (a slight or snub) · la repulsa (a slight or snub)