Dictionary

cold sweat en · NOUN

Meanings

1. Perspiration which feels chilly to the person perspiring, and which indicates debilitating illness, shock, or the experiencing of an intense emotion such as despair, anxiety, or, especially, fear.
   • [T]he great fear grew on me till the cold sweat ran from my brow and my soul was faint within me. 1889, H. Rider Haggard, chapter 2, in Cleopatra:
   • The leader of the hounds broke into cry again, a deep, full-toned, ringing bay, strange, ominous, terribly significant in its power. It caused a cold sweat to ooze out all over Duane's body. 1915, Zane Grey, chapter 12, in The Lone Star Ranger:
   • . . . And the dead were at my feet. The cold sweat melted from their limbs, Ne rot, ne reek did they; The look with which they look'd on me, Had never pass'd away. 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, part 4
   • One could argue that the banking crisis is just the cold sweat, not the flu that follows it 2008 October 9, James Saft, “The current crisis is only the beginning”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 Jul 2013:
   • He clasped his hands together, and involuntarily uttered a subdued exclamation of horror. A mist came before his eyes; the cold sweat stood upon his ashy face. 1839, Charles Dickens, chapter 22, in Oliver Twist:

Forms

Translations (13)

ja 冷や汗 (perspiration which feels chilly) · de Angstschweiß (perspiration which feels chilly) · cmn 冷汗 (perspiration which feels chilly) · za hanhheu (perspiration which feels chilly) · fr sueur froide (perspiration which feels chilly) · sv kallsvett (perspiration which feels chilly) · yue 冷汗 (perspiration which feels chilly) · id keringat dingin (perspiration which feels chilly) · it sudore freddo (perspiration which feels chilly) · ga fuarallas (perspiration which feels chilly) · ja 冷汗 (perspiration which feels chilly) · ru холо́дный пот (perspiration which feels chilly) · nb kaldsvette (perspiration which feels chilly)