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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

one's blood runs cold en · X

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. One feels a physical shock upon realizing a direct threat to one's life, similar to the loss of blood in the brain. It affects the entire body for a few minutes, but does not cause the person to lose consciousness.
  2. One experiences a visceral feeling of fear, horror, dread, foreboding, or dysphoria (sometimes with accompanying tingling paresthesias).
    • [M]y blood ran cold and my heart turned to water, for there, before the cave, rolled wolves, many and great. 1891, H. Rider Haggard, chapter 13, in Nada the Lily:
    • Little Oliver's blood ran cold, as he listened to the Jew's words, and imperfectly comprehended the dark threats conveyed in them. 1838, Charles Dickens, chapter 18, in Oliver Twist:
    • Here, he read of dreadful crimes that made the blood run cold. 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter 20, in Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
    • [T]he prospect of doing hard time in an American penitentiary was about the only thing that made Pablo Escobar's blood run cold. 2009 February 24, John Otis, “Colombia's Drug Extraditions: Are They Worth It?”, in Time:
    • His "blood runs cold" imagining the wrath of Weinstein. 2004 January 12, Jeffrey Ressner, “Sundances with Wolves”, in Time, archived from the original on 30 Jun 2013:
    • Her blood ran cold, and her heart seemed pressed in an iron vice. 1908, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter 9, in The Magician:
    • "It just makes my blood run cold to read about it. And to think that the man who did it is still around the country somewhere—plotting other murders." 1914, Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Man on the Train:
    • "Why, it mikes yer blood run cold: they 'ang a man on the stige; oh, it mide me creep all over!" 1897, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 7, in Liza of Lambeth, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published [1921], →OCLC:

Translations (3)

de einem gefriert das Blut in den Adern (One experiences a visceral feeling of fear, horror, dread, or strong forboding) · ru кровь сты́нет в жи́лах (One experiences a visceral feeling of fear, horror, dread, or strong forboding) · pl aż zmroziło (One experiences a visceral feeling of fear, horror, dread, or strong forboding)