cool as a cucumber en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
First use appears c. 1722 in a translation of Robinson Crusoe. See cite below.
Meanings
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(informal, not-comparable, qualifier:simile) Calm and composed even in difficult or frustrating situations; self-possessed.
Seconds later, Dowd was pointing to the spot again - this time without changing his mind - after Walcott was tugged back by Parker. Fabregas, cool as a cucumber, fired his penalty straight down the middle of the goal.
2011 January 8, Chris Bevan, “Arsenal 1 - 1 Leeds”, in BBC:1731, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Miscellanies: The Last Volume Pert as a Pear-Monger I'd be, If Molly were but kind; Cool as a Cucumber could see The rest of Womankind
Even during the elections, Josh was as cool as a cucumber.
“I’d be shaking in my shoes to ride in the Preakness,” said Desormeaux, who finished dead last in his first Preakness in 1988. “Now, not only have I won it twice [in 1998 on Real Quiet and in 2008 on Big Brown], I’ve lived life. I’ll be as cool as a cucumber in the saddle” with Exaggerator on Saturday.
2016 May 17, Don Markus, “For Kent Desormeaux, Preakness is a welcome Maryland homecoming”, in The Washington Post:Still he had all his wits about him, and was as cool as a cucumber.
1722, Daniel Defoe, Tweede deel der wonderbare levens gevallen van Robinson Crusoe ... Nu uit het Engelsch vertaaldt, en met een kaart zyner voyagie, en figuren voorzien (translation), page 167:
Relateds
Synonyms
calm as a cucumber · collected · rational · cool · in control · self-possessed · level-headed · calm · composed
Translations (11)
sv kolugn (calm and composed; self-possessed) · hu rendíthetetlenül nyugodt (calm and composed; self-possessed) · es estar más fresco que una lechuga (calm and composed; self-possessed) · hu rendíthetetlen nyugalmú (calm and composed; self-possessed) · de kalt wie Hundeschnauze (calm and composed; self-possessed) · hu csigavérű (calm and composed; self-possessed) · es calmatol (calm and composed; self-possessed) · pt de boa na lagoa (calm and composed; self-possessed) · sv lugn som en filbunke (calm and composed; self-possessed) · fi rauhallinen kuin viilipytty (calm and composed; self-possessed) · ru споко́йный, как уда́в (calm and composed; self-possessed)