Dictionary

lukecold en · ADJ

Etymology

Blend of lukewarm + cold, equivalent to luke (“lukewarm”) + cold.

Meanings

1. (rare) Between warm and cool temperatures, but cooler than lukewarm.
   • She put her hand on a luke-cold milk bottle and said, "Did Rudy come today?" 1983 [1981], John Crowley, “The Art of Memory”, in Little, Big, Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 459:
   • When Mrs. Whittle asked Billie if the water in the Rest Room was cold, Billie replied in the affirmative, but Mrs. Whittle, after taking a drink of it, said: “Billie, that water is not cold,” to which Billie replied: “Well, it is luke cold.” 1921, Pollyanna Wigginton, “Keyboard Klippings”, in Jeffry Service, volume VII, number IX, Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, page 12:
   • A hot, more strictly speaking, a luke-cold, bath was welcome at this point, and in the dry clothes brought by the poste and a new pair of slippers, purchased on the spot for two and a half francs, I was perfectly comfortable, and, as usual, in that happy frame of mind that a hard day's tramp always brings. 1920, Earl Trumbull Williams, Diary of a trip abroad in the summer of 1910, →LCCN, page 185:
   • Jeff took a slug of his lukecold beer. 2009, Geoff Dyer, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, Edinburgh: Canongate, →ISBN, page 46:
2. (rare) Not very enthusiastic (about a proposal or an idea) and less enthusiastic than lukewarm would imply.
   • In Texas, Conservative Price Daniel gave lukecold support to the Kennedy-Johnson ticket but had blazing hot support from the voters, who gave him a runaway third-term victory over Dallas Republican William Steger. 1960 November 16, “The Election: The States: The Governers”, in Time, volume LXXVI, number 20A, →ISSN, page 13:
   • Since industry is the principal supporter and indirectly financiers of the regulating bodies, the response by said group is veritably lukecold to those who fall in the human sub-set of sensitive reactions to pesticides. 1991 May 9, Robert G. Haines, “Pesticide consulting services, co.: expert witness testimony on SB-849”, in Issues Related to the Use and Application of Lawn Care Chemicals, 102nd United States Congress, page 230:

Forms