different between numb vs cold

English

Etymology

From the past participle of nim (“to take”). Compare German benommen (“dazed, numb”). The final ?b? is a later addition to the spelling; it was never pronounced, and did not appear in the original word.

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?m, IPA^(key): /n?m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Adjective

numb (comparative number, superlative numbest)

1. Physically unable to feel, not having the power of sensation.

   Synonyms: deadened, insensible

2. Emotionally unable to feel or respond in a normal way.

   numb with shock; numb with boredom

   • 1915, Nellie McClung, In Times Like These, Toronto: McLeod & Allen, Chapter 2,^[1]

     […] when we know that hundreds are rendered homeless every day, and countless thousands are killed and wounded, men and boys mowed down like a field of grain, and with as little compunction, we grow a little bit numb to human misery.

   • 1966, Truman Capote, In Cold Blood, New York: Modern Library, 1992, Part One, p. 77,^[2]

     […] seeing the dog—somehow that made me feel again. I’d been too dazed, too numb, to feel the full viciousness of it.

   • 2016, Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time, Random House Canada, Part Three,^[3]

     […] he submitted […] as a traitor, his mind numb with vodka, submits to a firing squad.

   Synonym: stunned

3. (obsolete) Causing numbness.
   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act II, Scene 1,^[4]

     […] he did lap me

     Even in his own garments, and gave himself,

     All thin and naked to the numb cold night.

Antonyms

• sensible, sensitive

Derived terms

Related terms

• numskull

Translations

Verb

numb (third-person singular simple present numbs, present participle numbing, simple past and past participle numbed)

1. (transitive) To cause to become numb (physically or emotionally).

   Synonym: benumb

2. (transitive) To cause (a feeling) to be less intense.
   • 1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, “The Grey Woman” in The Grey Woman and Other Tales, London: Smith, Elder & Co.,^[5]

     [I was] thankful for the pain, which helped to numb my terror.

   Synonym: dull

3. (transitive) To cause (the mind, faculties, etc.) to be less acute.
   • 1912, Saki, “The Hounds of Fate” in The Chronicles of Clovis, London: John Lane, p. 219,^[6]

     […] hunger, fatigue, and despairing hopelessness had numbed his brain […]

   • 1927, Hugh Lofting, Doctor Dolittle’s Garden, Part Four, Chapter 6,^[7]

     The noise, the rush of air past our ears, was positively terrific. It actually seemed to numb the senses and make it almost impossible to take in impressions at all.

   • 2004, Cory Doctorow, Eastern Standard Tribe, Chapter 13,^[8]

     [The sofa] exhaled a breath of trapped ancient farts, barf-smell, and antiseptic, the parfum de asylum that gradually numbed my nose to all other scents on the ward.

   Synonym: dull

4. (intransitive) To become numb (especially physically).
   • 1918, Lewis R. Freeman, Many Fronts, London: John Murray, “Wonders of the Teleferica,” p. 270,^[9]

     […] after fumbling with numbing fingers for ten or fifteen minutes, he waved his hand with a gesture of despair […]

   • 1919, Arthur Murray Chisholm, The Land of Strong Men, New York: H.K. Fly, Chapter 18,^[10]

     […] once more his feet began to numb. Again he got down and stamped the circulation going, but as soon as he began to ride again they numbed.

Derived terms

• mind-numbing

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k??ld/, /k??ld/
• (General American) enPR: k?ld, IPA^(key): /ko?ld/
• Homophone: coaled
• Rhymes: -??ld

Etymology 1

From Middle English cold, from Old English, specifically Anglian cald. The West Saxon form, ?eald (“cold”), survived as early Middle English cheald, cheld, or chald. Both descended from Proto-West Germanic *kald, from Proto-Germanic *kaldaz, a participle form of *kalan? (“to be cold”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold”).

Adjective

cold (comparative colder, superlative coldest)

1. (of a thing) Having a low temperature.
2. (of the weather) Causing the air to be cold.

3. (of a person or animal) Feeling the sensation of coldness, especially to the point of discomfort.

4. Unfriendly, emotionally distant or unfeeling.
   • 2011 April 23, Doctor Who, series 6, episode 1, The Impossible Astronaut:

     RIVER SONG (upon seeing the still-living DOCTOR, moments after he made her and two other friends watch what they thought was his death): This is cold. Even by your standards, this is cold.
5. Dispassionate, not prejudiced or partisan, impartial.

6. Completely unprepared; without introduction.

7. Unconscious or deeply asleep; deprived of the metaphorical heat associated with life or consciousness.

8. (usually with "have" or "know" transitively) Perfectly, exactly, completely; by heart.

9. (usually with "have" transitively) Cornered, done for.
10. (obsolete) Not pungent or acrid.

    • cold plants

11. (obsolete) Unexciting; dull; uninteresting.
    • 1641, Ben Jonson, Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter

      What a deal of cold business doth a man misspend the better part of life in!

    • The jest grows cold […] when it comes on in a second scene.

12. Affecting the sense of smell (as of hunting dogs) only feebly; having lost its odour.

13. (obsolete) Not sensitive; not acute.
14. Distant; said, in the game of hunting for some object, of a seeker remote from the thing concealed. Compare warm and hot.

15. (painting) Having a bluish effect; not warm in colour.
16. (databases) Rarely used or accessed, and thus able to be relegated to slower storage.
17. (informal) Without compassion; heartless; ruthless

    I can't believe she said that...that was cold!

18. (informal) Not radioactive. [from the 20^thc.]
    • 1953, Philip K. Dick, "That's right," Jackson said. "The Old Man will be pleased to welcome you." There was eagerness in his reedy voice. "What do you say? We'll take care of you. Feed you, bring you cold plants and animals. For a week maybe?"”, in Planet for Transients, a short story published in Fantastic Universe magazine: Oct-Nov 1953. Page 64

Synonyms

• (of a thing, having a low temperature): chilled, chilly, freezing, frigid, glacial, icy, cool
• (of the weather): (UK, slang) brass monkeys, nippy, parky, taters
• (of a person or animal):
• (unfriendly): aloof, distant, hostile, standoffish, unfriendly, unwelcoming
• (unprepared): unprepared, unready
• See also Thesaurus:cold

Antonyms

• (having a low temperature): baking, boiling, heated, hot, scorching, searing, torrid, warm
• (of the weather): hot (See the corresponding synonyms of hot.)
• (of a person or animal): hot (See the corresponding synonyms of hot.)
• (unfriendly): amiable, friendly, welcoming
• (unprepared): prepared, primed, ready
• (not radioactive): hot, radioactive

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English cold, colde, from Old English cald, ?eald (“cold, coldness”), from Proto-Germanic *kald? (“coldness”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold”).

Noun

cold (plural colds)

1. A condition of low temperature.

2. (with 'the', figuratively) A harsh place; a place of abandonment.

   The former politician was left out in the cold after his friends deserted him.

3. (medicine) A common, usually harmless, viral illness, usually with congestion of the nasal passages and sometimes fever.

4. (slang) rheum, sleepy dust
   • 1994, Notorious B.I.G., Warning

     Who the fuck is this, pagin' me at 5:46 in the morning? / crack of dawn and now I'm yawnin' / wipe the cold out my eye, see who's this pagin' me and why

   • 1996, Ghostface Killah, All That I Got Is You

     But I remember this, moms would lick her finger tips / to wipe the cold out my eye before school with her spit

Synonyms

• (low temperature): coldness
• (illness): common cold, coryza, head cold, pose

Derived terms

Coordinate terms

• freeze, frost

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English colde, from Old English calde, ?ealde (“coldly”), from the adjective (see above).

Adverb

cold (comparative more cold, superlative most cold)

1. While at low temperature.

   The steel was processed cold.

2. Without preparation.

   The speaker went in cold and floundered for a topic.

3. With finality.

   I knocked him out cold.

4. (slang, informal, dated) In a cold, frank, or realistically honest manner.
   • 1986, Run-DMC, Peter Piper.

     Now Little Bo Peep cold lost her sheep / And Rip van Winkle fell the hell asleep

References

See also

• cool
• fresh
• lukewarm
• tepid

Anagrams

• clod, loc'd

Middle English

Alternative forms

• cald, cheld, cheald, chald

Etymology

From Old English cald, an Anglian form of ?eald.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??ld/
• (from the form ?eald) IPA^(key): /t???ld/

Adjective

cold (plural and weak singular colde, comparative colder, superlative *coldest)

1. (temperature) cold, cool
2. (weather) cold, cool
3. (locations) having a tendency to be cold
4. cold-feeling, cold when touched, cooled, chilly
5. lifeless, having the pallor of death
6. cold-hearted, indifferent, insensitive
7. distressed, sorrowful, worried
8. (alchemy, medicine) Considered to be alchemically cold

Descendants

• English: cold
• Scots: cald, cauld
• Yola: cole, khoal

References

• “c?ld, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-26.

Noun

cold

1. cold, coldness
2. The feeling of coldness or chill
3. Lack of feelings or emotion
4. (alchemy, medicine) Alchemical coldness

Descendants

• English: cold
• Scots: cald, cauld

References

• “c?ld, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-26.