different between cool vs check

English

Alternative forms

• (slang) c00l, coo, k00l, kewl, kool, qewl, qool

Pronunciation

• enPR: ko?ol, IPA^(key): /ku?l/
• Rhymes: -u?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English cool, from Old English c?l (“cool, cold, tranquil, calm”), from Proto-West Germanic *k?l(?), from Proto-Germanic *k?laz, *k?luz (“cool”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian köil (“cool”), West Frisian koel (“cool”), Dutch koel (“cool”), Limburgish kool (“cool”), German Low German köhl (“cool”), German kühl (“cool”). Related to cold.

Adjective

cool (comparative cooler, superlative coolest)

2. Having a slightly low temperature; mildly or pleasantly cold.

   Synonym: chilly

   Antonyms: lukewarm, tepid, warm
3. Allowing or suggesting heat relief.
4. Of a color, in the range of violet to green.

   Antonym: warm

5. Of a person, not showing emotion; calm and in control of oneself.

   Synonyms: distant, phlegmatic, standoffish, unemotional

   Antonym: passionate

6. Unenthusiastic, lukewarm, skeptical.

   Antonym: warm

7. Calmly audacious.
8. Applied facetiously to a sum of money, commonly as if to give emphasis to the largeness of the amount.

   • Who will lend me a cool hundred.

   • 1900, Dora Sigerson Shorter, Transmigration

     You remember Bulger, don't you? You lost a cool hundred to him one night here over the cards, eh?

   • 1944 November 28, Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe, Meet Me in St. Louis, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer:

     My father was talking to the World's Fair Commission yesterday, and they estimate it's going to cost a cool fifty million.

9. (informal) Of a person, knowing what to do and how to behave; considered popular by others.

   Antonyms: awkward, uncool
10. (informal) In fashion, part of or fitting the in crowd; originally hipster slang.

    Synonyms: à la mode, fashionable, in fashion, modish, stylish, happening, hip, in, trendy

    Antonyms: démodé, old hat, out, out of fashion

    • 2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xii

      The fact that I was middle-aged, bald, married, and raising girls instead of chasing them didn't really bother me. Muscles are cool at any age.

11. (informal) Of an action, all right; acceptable; that does not present a problem.

    Synonyms: acceptable, all right, OK

    Antonyms: (UK) not cricket, not on, unacceptable

12. (informal) Of a person, not upset by circumstances that might ordinarily be upsetting.

    Synonyms: easy, fine, not bothered, not fussed

    Antonyms: bothered, upset

13. Quietly impudent, defiant, or selfish; deliberately presuming: said of persons and acts.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Chinese: ?
• ? Dutch: cool
• ? French: cool
• ? German: cool
• ? Polish: cool
• ? Spanish: cool
• ? Swedish: cool

Translations

Noun

cool (uncountable)

1. A moderate or refreshing state of cold; moderate temperature of the air between hot and cold; coolness.

   in the cool of the morning

2. A calm temperament.

   Synonyms: calmness, composure

3. The property of being cool, popular or in fashion.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English colen, from Old English c?lian (“to cool, grow cold, be cold”), from Proto-West Germanic *k?l?n (“to become cold”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to freeze”). Cognate with Dutch koelen (“to cool”), German kühlen (“to cool”), Swedish kyla (“to cool, refrigerate”). Also partially from Middle English kelen, from Old English c?lan (“to cool, be cold, become cold”), from Proto-Germanic *k?lijan? (“to cool”), altered to resemble the adjective cool. See keel.

Verb

cool (third-person singular simple present cools, present participle cooling, simple past and past participle cooled)

1. (intransitive, literally) To lose heat, to get colder.

   I like to let my tea cool before drinking it so I don't burn my tongue.

2. (transitive) To make cooler, less warm.
3. (figuratively, intransitive) To become less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.

   Relations cooled between the USA and the USSR after 1980.

4. (transitive) To make less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.
5. (transitive) To kill.
   • 1965, "Sex Jungle" (narrated in Perversion for Profit)

     Maybe he would die. That would mean I had murdered him. I smiled, trying the idea on for size. One of the things that always had cheesed me a little was that I had no kills to my credit. I'd been in plenty of rumbles, but somehow, I'd never cooled anyone. Well maybe now I had my first one. I couldn't feel very proud of skulling an old man, but at least I could say that I'd scored. That was a big kick.

Derived terms

Translations

References

• cool in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• cool at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Colo, Colo., colo, colo-, loco

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English cool. Doublet of koel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku(?)l/
• Hyphenation: cool
• Rhymes: -ul
• Homophone: koel

Adjective

cool (comparative cooler, superlative coolst)

1. cool, fashionable

Inflection

French

Etymology

From English cool.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kul/
• Homophones: coule, coules, coulent

Adjective

cool (invariable)

1. cool (only its informal senses, mainly fashionable)

   Les jeunes sont cool.

   Young people are cool.

   Les jeunes boivent de l'alcool pour être cool.

   Young people drink alcohol to be cool.

Interjection

cool

1. cool! great!

Anagrams

• looc

German

Etymology

From English cool, from Proto-Germanic *k?laz. Doublet of kühl.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ku?l]

Adjective

cool (comparative cooler, superlative am coolsten)

1. (colloquial) cool (in its informal senses)

   Synonyms: brilliant, genial, geil
2. (colloquial) cool, calm, easy-going

   Synonyms: lässig, ruhig

Declension

Further reading

• “cool” in Duden online

Polish

Etymology

From English cool.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kul/

Adjective

cool (not comparable)

1. (slang) cool (in its informal senses)

   Synonyms: ?wietny, wspania?y, znakomity

Declension

Indeclinable.

Further reading

• cool in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• cool in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English cool

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kul/, [?kul]

Adjective

cool (plural cools or cool)

1. cool (in its informal sense)

Anagrams

• loco

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English cool.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku?l/

Adjective

cool (comparative coolare, superlative coolast)

1. cool! great!

Declension

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: ch?k, IPA^(key): /t???k/
• Rhymes: -?k
• Homophones: cheque, Czech

Etymology 1

From Middle English chek, chekke, borrowed from Old French eschek, eschec, eschac, from Medieval Latin scaccus, borrowed from Arabic ????? (š?h, “king or check at chess, shah”), borrowed from Persian ???? (šâh, “king”), from Middle Persian ????????????????? (mlk? /š?h/), from Old Persian ???? (XŠ /xš?ya?iya/, “king”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kšáyati (“he rules, he has power over”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tek- (“to gain power over, gain control over”).

All English senses developed from the chess sense. Compare Saterland Frisian Schak, Schach, Dutch schaak, German Schach, Danish skak, Swedish schack, Icelandic skák, French échec, Italian scacco. See chess and shah (“king of Persia or Iran”).

Noun

check (plural checks)

1. (chess) A situation in which the king is directly threatened by an opposing piece. [from 14th c.]
2. An inspection or examination.

3. A control; a limit or stop.
4. (US) A mark (especially a checkmark: ?) used as an indicator.

   Synonyms: (UK) tick, checkmark

   • 1980, Stephen King, The Mist

     Norton had made a neat, lawyerly check beside each of the items he and Billy had picked up—half a dozen or so, including the milk and a six-pack of Coke.

5. (US) An order to a bank to pay money to a named person or entity.

   Synonym: (UK, Canada) cheque

6. (US) A bill, particularly in a restaurant.

   Synonyms: bill, (Canada) cheque

7. (contact sports) A maneuver performed by a player to take another player out of the play.

8. A token used instead of cash in gaming machines, or in gambling generally.
   • 1963, American law reports annotated: second series, volume 89

     […] the statute prohibits a machine which dispenses checks or tokens for replay […]

9. A lengthwise separation through the growth rings in wood.
10. A mark, certificate, or token by which errors may be prevented, or a thing or person may be identified.

11. (falconry) The forsaking by a hawk of its proper game to follow other birds. [from 15th c.]
12. A small chink or crack.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

References

• check on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

From Middle English chekken, partly from Old French eschequier and partly from the noun (see above).

Verb

check (third-person singular simple present checks, present participle checking, simple past and past participle checked)

1. To inspect; to examine.

2. To verify the accuracy of a text or translation, usually making some corrections (proofread) or many (copyedit).
3. (US, often used with "off") To mark items on a list (with a checkmark or by crossing them out) that have been chosen for keeping or removal or that have been dealt with (for example, completed or verified as correct or satisfactory).

   Synonyms: check off, (UK) tick, (UK) tick off, cross off, strike off

   Antonym: uncheck

4. To control, limit, or halt.

   Synonyms: curtail, restrain; see also Thesaurus:curb

   • c. 1775–1780, Edmund Burke, letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol

     so many clogs to check and retard the headlong course of violence and oppression

   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses Chapter 13

     She was about to retort but something checked the words on her tongue.

5. To verify or compare with a source of information.

6. To leave in safekeeping.

7. To leave with a shipping agent for shipping.

8. (street basketball) To pass or bounce the ball to an opponent from behind the three-point line and have the opponent pass or bounce it back to start play.

9. (sports) To disrupt another player with the stick or body to obtain possession of the ball or puck.

   Synonyms: tackle, trap, attack

10. (poker) To remain in a hand without betting. Only legal if no one has yet bet.

11. (chess) To make a move which puts an adversary's king in check; to put in check.
12. To chide, rebuke, or reprove.
13. (nautical) To slack or ease off, as a brace which is too stiffly extended.
14. To crack or gape open, as wood in drying; or to crack in small checks, as varnish, paint, etc.
15. To make checks or chinks in; to cause to crack.

16. To make a stop; to pause; with at.

    • The mind, once jaded by an attempt above its power, either is disabled for the future, or else checks at any vigorous undertaking ever after.

17. (obsolete) To clash or interfere.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

18. To act as a curb or restraint.
    • 1677, John Dryden, All for Love

      It [his presence] checks too strong upon me.

19. (falconry) To turn, when in pursuit of proper game, and fly after other birds.

Derived terms

• See below

Descendants

• ? Gulf Arabic: ???? (??yy?k)
• ? Hijazi Arabic: ??????? (šayyak)
• ? Finnish: tsekata
• ? German: checken
• ? Portuguese: checar
• ? Russian: ??????? (?ékat?)
• ? Russian: ???????? (?éknut?)
• ? Russian: ?????????? (pro?ékat?)
• ? Spanish: chequear

Translations

Derived terms

Related terms

Etymology 3

By shortening from chequer, from Old French eschequier (“chessboard”), from Medieval Latin scaccarium, ultimately from the same Persian root as above.

Noun

check (plural checks)

1. (textiles, usually pluralized) A pattern made up of a grid of squares of alternating colors; a checkered pattern.
   • 1819, Charles Mowry, in the Downington Pennsylvania American Republican, quoted in Herbery Wisbey, Pioneer Prophetess: Jemima Wilkinson, the Publick Universal Friend:

     One of her female followers, had made a very elegant piece of check. The Friend, being at her house, on a visit, the lady shewed the check to her, and as evidence of devotion to her leader, proposed presenting her with a pattern off the piece for her own use.

2. Any fabric woven with such a pattern.

Translations

Verb

check (third-person singular simple present checks, present participle checking, simple past and past participle checked)

1. (transitive) To mark with a check pattern.

Adjective

check (not comparable)

1. (heraldry) Divided into small squares by transverse, perpendicular, and horizontal lines.

   Synonym: chequy

References

• Michael Quinion (2004) , “Cheque”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, ?ISBN
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “check”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowed from English check.

Pronunciation

Verb

check

1. (Cantonese) to check

Synonyms

• ????? (ji?nchá)

Danish

Etymology

From English cheque, check, from Old French eschek (“check (in chess)”), via Medieval Latin scaccus and Arabic ????? (š?h) from Persian ???? (šâh, “king”) (cf. also Danish skak).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?????]

Noun

check c

1. cheque

Inflection

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

check

1. first-person singular present indicative of checken
2. imperative of checken

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??k/

Noun

check m (plural checks)

1. (slang) fist bump

Spanish

Noun

check m (plural checks)

1. check (mark)

Swedish

Etymology

From English check

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??k?/
• Homophones: käck, tjeck

Noun

check c

1. cheque, check

Declension

References