the cold shoulder

phraseC1Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

The cold shoulder is deliberate unfriendly silence towards somebody. Give him the cold shoulder, get the cold shoulder, the cold shoulder all evening.

It takes give or get, and the silence must be pointed rather than accidental. The phrase is nineteenth-century and the old story about serving cold mutton is almost certainly invented.

Definitions of the cold shoulder

1phrasethe cold shoulderDeliberate unfriendly silence toward someone.C1
“He got the cold shoulder from every one of them at the wedding.”

the cold shoulder is a phrase.

Also accepted in games: cold shoulder

← Vocabulary

the cold shoulder

phraseC1Not compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

The cold shoulder is deliberate unfriendly silence towards somebody. Give him the cold shoulder, get the cold shoulder, the cold shoulder all evening.

It takes give or get, and the silence must be pointed rather than accidental. The phrase is nineteenth-century and the old story about serving cold mutton is almost certainly invented.

Definitions of the cold shoulder

1phrasethe cold shoulderDeliberate unfriendly silence toward someone.C1
“He got the cold shoulder from every one of them at the wedding.”

the cold shoulder is a phrase.

Also accepted in games: cold shoulder