cool, adj., adv., and int.

[Cognate (with variations of declensional class) with Middle Dutch coel, coele cool, moderately cold, peaceful (Dutch koel), Middle Low German kl cool, cold, Old High German kuoli cool, refreshing (Middle High German küele, German kühl) calan (seeCOLD adj.). Derivative verbal formations from the same Germanic adjectival base are shown by COOL v.¹ and KEEL v.¹; see further discussion at COLD adj.] 

    A. adj.

    1. a. Of or at a relatively low temperature; moderately cold, esp. agreeably or refreshingly so (in contrast with heat or cold).
  In early use not always distinguished from cold.

eOE Metres of Boethius v. 13 Swa oft æspringe ut awealle of clife harum col and hlutor. eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) III. xxvi. 324 Wyl sian on buteran.., do on blede..& hrer mid sticcan o æt hit col sie. OE Vercelli Homilies i. 18 a stodon hie..ær æt am fyre & wyrmdon hie; wæs æt weder wel col [OE Bodl. 340 wæs æt weder ceald; L. frigus erat]. a1300 Vision St. Paul (Jesus Oxf.) l. 82 in R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 149 at fule pool at euer is hot, and neuer cool. c1400 (?c1380) Patience l. 452 Al schet in aschae at schaded ful cole. ?a1475 Promp. Parv. (Winch.) 90 Cole or sumwhat cold. 1535 W. STEWART tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. II. 202 In mid winter quhen that the wedder is cuill. 1598 SHAKESPEARE Loves Labours Lost V. ii. 89 Vnder the coole shade of a Siccamone. 1624 J. SMITH Gen. Hist. Virginia II. 21 The Northwest winde is commonly coole. a1650 G. BOATE Irelands Nat. Hist. (1652) vii. 54 The water of these Well-springs is for the most part cool, clear, and pure. 1722 D. DEFOE Jrnl. Plague Year 6 The Weather was temperate, variable and cool enough. 1776 Trial Maha Rajah Nundocomar for Forgery 32/2 He was then in a cool sweat, with a low pulse. 1860 J. TYNDALLGlaciers of Alps I. xxv. 177 We were in the cool shadow of the mountain. 1881 D. G. ROSSETTI Ballads & Sonnets 293 O leave your hand where it lies cool Upon the eyes whose lids are hot. 1935 E. BOWEN House in Paris (1983) II. viii. 131 It was summer; cool in the house but glaring hot in the streets. 1981 G. VIDAL Creation I. ii. 9 The day is cool but not cold. 1992 Flora Internat. Mar.-Apr. 14 Place in water in a cool place for a few hours.

    b. fig. and in figurative contexts.

1597 T. MIDDLETON Wisdome of Solomon Paraphr. XII. xiv. sig. P^v, If hot anger smother coole delight, Hee'le mould our bodies in destructions forme, And make our selues as subiects to his might. 1604 SHAKESPEARE Hamlet III. iv. 115 Vpon the heat and flame of thy distemper Sprinckle coole patience. a1616 SHAKESPEARE Henry V (1623) III. iii. 113 The coole and temperate Wind of Grace. 1737 POPE Epist. of Horace I. i. 9 Our Gen'rals now, retir'd to their Estates, Hang their old Trophies o'er the Garden gates, In Life's cool evening satiate of applause. 1751 T. GRAY Elegy xix. 9 Along the cool sequester'd vale of life. 1767 W. HANBURY Hist. Rise Charitable Found. Church-Langton 108 The country, seeing the cool water thrown on it [sc. a scheme]. 1838 J. GILLMAN Life S. T. Coleridge ii. 67 The lecturer [sc. Coleridge]..addressed them as follows:..‘What is to be expected, gentlemen, when the cool waters of reason come in contact with red hot aristocracy but a hiss?’ 1940 ‘N. WEST’ Untitled Outl. in Novels & Other Writings (1997) 759 The woman who had come along to lead them out of the lush patches of yellow reporting into the cool, green fields of the purer but arid desert of the higher journalism. 1991 R. CHAMBERSRoom for Maneuver 249 A certain primitivism that needs to be tempered by a return to the cooler climes of theory.

    c. Of clothing, fabric, etc.: that produces a sensation of coolness, that keeps a person cool; that does not admit or retain heat.

1614 T. ADAMS Diuells Banket v. 234 Our will desires in the Summer a lighter and cooler garment, in Winter a thicker and warmer. 1671 tr. J. de Palafox Conq. China xxxii. 569 When they shall have more experienced..the heats in the Southern Provinces, they will proportionably wear cooler Clothes. 1745 R. POCOCKE Descr. East II. I. IV. viii. 266 The boors..in summer are always clothed in white,..imagining that white is a cool dress. 1774 E. LONG Hist. Jamaica II. III. vi. 523 Nothing is more likely to subject a person to catch cold, and a fit of sickness, than a sudden change from an habitual light and cool dress, to one twice as hot. 1858 D. LARDNER Hand-bk. Nat. Philos. 374 The helmet and cuirass worn by cavalry is a cooler dress than might be imagined, the polished metal being a good reflector of heat. 1864 E. SARGENT Peculiar xxix. 283 Ratcliff entered, habited in a cool suit of grass-cloth. 1907 Times 28 May 10/1 (advt.) The great array of cool fabrics issued for day-time wear. 1932 ‘B. ROSS’ Trag. of Y I. ii. 50 He was dressed in a cool linen shirt.2002 Manch. Evening News (Nexis) 1 June 12 His wife likes a thick duvet and soft mattress, while he prefers cooler bedding and a firm mattress.

    d. Med. Of medicine, treatment, etc.: that lowers the temperature (of the blood, body, etc.); cooling. Cf. COOL v.¹ 3b. Now rare.

1614 S. LATHAM Falconry II. xii. 100 Contrariwise ouer much heat in it self, may be the cause of that weaknesse [sc. in a hawk's stomach]... You must of necessity coole it with some coole thing that is meet for it. 1793 T. BEDDOES Observ. Nature & Cure Calculus 151 The cool treatment of small pox. 1857 T. D. MITCHELL in J. Eberle Treat. Dis. & Physical Educ. Children (ed. 4) II. xxxvi. 442 In all cases [of measles], save those in which the powers if life are rapidly waning, the cool treatment is decidedly more rational and safe. 1981 Social Sci. & Med. 15 137/2 Folk illnesses such as ‘fright’..are also hot conditions which are met with cool remedies. 2005 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 353 1619 (title) Systemic hypothermiaa ‘cool’ therapy for neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

    2. a. Of a person or a personal attribute, quality, etc.: not affected by passion or emotion, dispassionate; controlled, deliberate, not hasty; calm, composed.
  cool as a cucumber: see CUCUMBER n. 2b. to play it cool: see PLAY v. 17d.

OE Beowulf 282 Gyf him [sc. Hrogar] edwendan æfre scolde bealuwa bisigu bot eft cuman, ond a cearwylmas colran wura. c1430 (c1386) CHAUCER Legend Good Women(Cambr. Gg. 4. 27) (1879) l. 258 Thow..thynkist in thyn wit that is ful cole That he nys but a verray propre fole That louyth paramouris to harde & hote. 1570 P. LEVENSManipulus Vocabulorum sig. Niii^v/1, Coole, quietus. 1600 SHAKESPEARE Midsummer Night's Dream V. i. 6 Such seething braines..that apprehend more, Then coole reason euer comprehends. 1611 Bible (A.V.) Prov. xvii. 27 A man of vnderstanding is of an excellent [margin coole] spirit. 1679 W. PENN Addr. Protestants I. ix, in Wks. (1825) III. 39 A descreet and cool hand may direct the blow right..when men of fury rather ease their passion, than mend their youth. 1736 BP. J. BUTLER Analogy of Relig. II. vii. 270 Some of them were Men of the coolest Tempers. 1781 GIBBON Decline & Fall (1787) III. xxx. 167 (note), The bloody actor is less detestable than the cool unfeeling historian. 1839 T. BEALE Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale xiii. 164 The line is running through the groove at the head of the boat..the headsman, cool and collected, pours water upon it as it passes. 1855TENNYSON Maud XXII. i, in Maud & Other Poems 74 While she wept, and I strove to be cool. 1890 C. KING Sunset Pass 56 Don't get stampeded. Just keep cool; watch and listen.1938 Los Angeles Times 11 Jan. A14/2 The yips and a turn of jittery nerves were suddenly turned into a cool head and a stout heart. 1992 W. HORWOOD Duncton Rising xxv. 335 The Master Stour, now cool, calm, and collected, smiled benignly. 2002 N. LEBRECHT Song of Names ii. 35 He can still unsettle me like nothing on earth. This cannot continue: get a grip, stay cool.

    b. spec. Of the blood, as the seat of a person's emotions or passions (cf. BLOOD n. 5). Freq. in in cool blood: without excitement; (esp. with reference to violent or cruel action) not in the heat of passion, with calm deliberation; = in cold blood at COLD BLOOD n. 
  In quot. OE: lacking potency.

OE Sedulius Glosses (Royal 15 B.xix) in H. D. Meritt Old Eng. Glosses (1945) 38 Frigidus col [L. prolemque negebat frigidus annoso moriens in corpore sanguis].

a1500 Consail Vys Man in R. Girvan Ratis Raving & Other Early Scots Poems (1939) 396 Weng [= venge] nocht quhil thi blud be cule. 1606 J. MARSTON Parasitaster I. i. sig. A4, How cooler bloud wil behaue it selfe in this busines, would I haue an only testimony. 1607 R. C. tr. H. Estienne World of Wonders I. xxv. 203 Blasphemies vttered in coole bloud without choler, passion or heate of affection. a1616 SHAKESPEARE Cymbeline (1623) V. vi. 77 We should not, when the blood was cool, haue threatend Our Prisoners with the Sword. 1658 Whole Duty of Man (1684) 86 That without any provocation at all, in cool bloud, as they say, they can thus wrong their poor brethren. 1720 D. DEFOE Mem. Cavalier 229 Those very Wretches who..with unheard of Butcheries, had massacred so many Thousands of English in cool Blood. 1768 J. WESLEY Let. Dec. (1931) V. 377 Notwithstanding all the tragical exclamations which have been made concerning it, what is this to the killing a man in cool blood? 1838 J. H. INGRAHAM Burton II. ii. 33 General Washington..has a good deal of the lion's irritability.., and your own blood is not over cool. 1881 MRS. P. O'DONOGHUE Ladies on Horseback II. v. 72 No horse that ever was foaled could do it [sc. a big leap] in cool blood. 1903 Times 22 Sept. 9/1 When it is considered in cool blood it must be admitted..not to constitute in any sense an attack upon the present political régime. 1915 T. ROOSEVELT Amer. & World War ii. 26 The rights and wrongs of these cases where nations violate the rules of morality..can be precisely determined only when all the facts are known and when men's blood is cool. 1988 Polity 20 685 The murder in cool blood of whole political classes which Machiavelli seems to admire.

    c. Of a thing or action: characterized by or exhibiting calmness, composure, or a lack of passionate emotion.

1579 G. FENTON tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin VIII. 411 To holde faste that that hath bene gotten, is a cooler iustificatorie to enhable the tytle and interest of the thing.1592 A. DAY Eng. Secretorie II. sig O3^v, In coole matters thou art hotte: in the hottest causes, cold. 1646 R. CRASHAW Musicks Duell in Delights Muses 106 Shee qualifies their zeale With the coole Epode of a grave Noat. 1663 J. SPENCER Disc. Prodigies (1665) 22 When fear hath..disabled the mind for a cool and sedate judgment and valuation of things.1717 LADY M. W. MONTAGU Let. 16 Jan. (1965) I. 296 Upon cooler refflexion, I think I had done better to have let it alone. 1788 T. REID Ess. Active Powers Man (1803) III. II. i. 159 Some cool principle of action, which has authority without any impulsive force. 1798 CAPT. MILLER in Ld. Nelson Dispatches & Lett. (1846) VII. p. clviii, I caused a cool and steady fire to be opened on them. 1850 F. W. ROBERTSON Serm. 1st Ser. (1866) xvi. 266 These words fall short: they are too tame and cool. 1883 American 6 41/2 To the ‘pornial fire’ of the Elizabethan period had succeeded an age of patient research and cool criticism. 1917 F. H. SIMONDS Hist. World War I. I. vi. 116 The battle was not the sudden rally of..hundreds of thousands of soldiers. It was the result of a clear, cool, and deliberate plan. 1988 Australasian Post (Melbourne) 9 Apr. 10/1 She was the bouncer at the Waikato, a tavern described as being wild... Anne..managed to keep the whole place cool.

    d. Of a person, an action, or a person's behaviour: assured and unabashed where diffidence and hesitation would be expected; composedly and deliberately audacious or impudent in making a proposal, demand, or assumption.

1723 A. HILL King Henry V IV. i. 39 Look back on all this dreadfull Pile of Baseness,..and then, In the cool Insolence of Pride, and Majesty, Ask me againif I can wish Thee dead?1787 G. COLMAN Prose Several Occasions II. 44 Considering Mr. L. is but a common acquaintance,..I never saw a more consummate piece of assurance. The cool impudence of it startled me at first. 1825 C. M. WESTMACOTT Eng. Spy I. 80 A right cool fish. 1873 W. BLACK Princess of Thule xxiv. 394 He certainly knew that such a request was a trifle cool.1874 J. P. MAHAFFY Social Life Greece viii. 256 The cool way in which Plato in his Republic speaks of exposing children. 1926 S. ANDERSON Tar vi. 142 Henry would walk right out and take it as cool as you please. 1988 M. SENDAK Caldecott & Co. (1989) I. 140 Mr Yorinks has the cool audacity to mix absolute nonsense with cockeyed fact. 2005 D. ARSCOTT Maracas in Caracas 9 Then I find a good half of my contracts are being siphoned off into the new Jeavons venture. Cool as you like.

    e. orig. U.S. Of jazz music: restrained or relaxed in style (opposed to HOT adj. 12h). Also: performing or associated with music of this type.

1948 Bridgeport (Connecticut) Telegram 13 July 9/1 Hot jazz is dead. Long live cool jazz!.. The old-school jazz created a tension, where the new jazz tries to convey a feeling of rhythmic relaxation. 1955 L. FEATHER Encycl. Jazz (1956) 30 Cool jazz to most musicians and students denotes the understated, behind-the-beat style typified by the arrangements and soloists on the Davis records. 1957 H. PANASSIÉ in S. Traill Concerning Jazz 61 The ‘cool’ musicians..stopped using the traditional jazz technique and tone.1963 L. JONES Blues People xii. 207 Obvious innovators and masters who might not be ordinarily identified as members of the ‘cool school’. 1992 Jazz No. 12. 10/1 [The] band was exploring its cool, dark Miles vibe. 2002 List (Glasgow & Edinb. Events Guide) 4 July 65/3 (advt.) Tenor saxman Redman invests his cool jazz sounds with hip hop and funk influences.

    3. a. Lacking in fervour or zeal, unenthusiastic; lacking heartiness or warmth of interest. Cf. COLD adj. 7a , LUKEWARM adj. 2.

OE Beowulf 2066 [Sy]an Ingelde wealla wælnias, ond him wiflufan æfter cearwælmum colran weora.

1592 T. ROGERS tr. T. à Kempis Soliloquium Animae vii. 46, I was not zealous enough in my proceeding, I did not encrease in zeale, but, which is woorser, I waxed cooler and cooler. 1631 BP. J. HALL Occas. Medit. (ed. 2) §cxxxviii, Oh give me a true sense of my wants, and then I cannot bee coole in asking. 1710 R. STEELE Tatler No. 192 2 Sometimes the Parties..grow cool in the very Honey Month. 1743 H. FIELDING Journey from This World to Next XIX. vii. 244 My Imagination, which had thus warmly pursued a Crown, grew cool when I was in the possession of it. 1765 D. GARRICK Let. 10 Mar. (1963) II. 449 Do the Town in general really wish to see me on y^e Stage? or are they..as cool about it as their humble Servant? 1815 DUKE OF WELLINGTON in J. Gurwood Dispatches X. 169 The people are a little cool both at Vienna and in England in respect to the Bourbons. 1858TROLLOPE Dr. Thorne III. ii. 25 The zeal of the master waxed cool as that of the pupil waxed hot. 1874 J. S. BLACKIE On Self-culture 70 An honest hater is often a better fellow than a cool friend. 1915 Times 25 May 8/5 The idea of war with Italy left the Germans rather cool. 2003 Europe-Asia Stud. 55 422 The President seemed markedly cool about Sobyanin's candidature.

    b. Exhibiting or demonstrating a lack of warmth of affection; not cordial, unfriendly. Cf. COLD adj. 8.

1641 EARL OF MONMOUTH tr. G. F. Biondi Hist. Civil Warres Eng. I. II. 97 The Dolphin who well weighed these alterations, grew somewhat coole towards his father in law [It.s'andaua raffredando co'l suocero]. 1675 in Essex Papers (1890) I. 319, I found him at first cooler in his reception then when I left him. a1706 J. VANBRUGH Mistake I, in Wks.(1840) 442/1 Were I to meet a cool reception. 1751 E. HAYWOOD Hist. Betsy Thoughtless IV. viii. 78 The cool reception he had given her sent her home in a very ill humour.1800 E. HERVEY Mourtray Family III. 77, I am rather upon cool terms with him. 1854 THACKERAY Newcomes II. xxv. 237 But she did not care for Mrs. Clive, and the Colonel, somehow, grew cool towards us. 1924 P. G. WODEHOUSE Bill the Conqueror 31 For many months now this tendency to a cool formality on her part had irked Bill. 1997 T. MACKINTOSH-SMITH Yemen (1999) iv. 90 His reception was cool, but he avoided any serious incident.

    c. App.: possessing little vitality or force; ineffectual. Obs. rare.

1669 A. MARVELL Corr. in Wks. (1875) II. 282, I reckon they have but a coole patent of it, and I suppose should they bring it into Parliament it will prove not only impossible there but ridiculous.

    4. a. Providing no comfort or encouragement; chilling. Cf. COLD adj. 10. Obs.

c1350 (a1333) WILLIAM OF SHOREHAM Poems (1902) 102 Hys red was to coul at let man to suich meschyf. c1425 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Harl.) 131 Wat segge emaistres..at eue at cole [c1325 Calig. colde] red To bi nyme blod and my lyf.

    b. Lacking hope; dispirited, discouraged. Obs. rare.

c1540 Destr. Troy 9255 en comford he caght in his cole hert.

    5. a. Of a taste or smell: producing a sensation analogous to coolness of temperature; fresh, crisp; refreshing. Of food, drink, etc.: having such a taste.

1589 T. CATES Summarie Drakes W. Indian Voy. 14 Within this white of the nut [sc. the coconut] lyeth a water,..which water and white rine before spoken of, are both of a very coole fresh taste. 1697 W. DAMPIER New Voy. around World xi. 314 It drinks brisk and cool. 1734 P. SHAW Enq. Scarborough Spaw-waters I. iv. 45 The Characteristicks of pure Nitre, or Salt-Petre... Its particular sharp, or penetrating, cool, and lightly bitterish taste. 1815 MISS PRICKETT Warwick Castle I. vii. 126 The cool scent of roses..appeared to revive him. 1826 P. G. PATMORE Mirror of Months 194 The cool, crisp, and refreshing Nonsuch [apple],eating, when at its best, like a glass of Apple-ice. 1848 THACKERAYVanity Fair iii. 20 ‘Try a chili with it, Miss Sharp,’ said Joseph, really interested. ‘A chili,’ said Rebecca, gasping. ‘Oh yes!’ She thought a chili was something cool, as its name imported. 1925 Woman's World Apr. 64/2 (advt.) Forhan's [toothpaste] is cool, antiseptic and pleasant to the taste. 1997 J. FLETCHER Fresh from Farmers' Market 118 The clean, cool taste of the sliced [fennel] bulb.

    b. Of a colour, esp. a blue, green, or grey: suggestive of coolness. Cf. COLD adj. 15 , WARM adj. 15a.

1758 R. DOSSIE Handmaid to Arts I. I. ii. 83 Verditer is, when good, a cool full blue, but without the least transparency either in oil or water. 1799 J. HULL Brit. Flora I. 342Acris,..Gills reddish buff, 4 in a set, branching, pileus cool brown, viscid, shining, oblique.., stalk whitish, shining, eccentric. 1845 Punch 7 June 247/1 The following terms are indispensable, and may be used pretty much at random:‘Chiaroscuro’, ‘texture’, ‘pearly greys’, ‘foxy browns’, ‘cool greens’, ‘breadth’, ‘handling’, ‘medium’, ‘vehicle’. 1859 D. H. JACQUES House 161 A cool gray..may be obtained as follows:..Raw umber, half a pound [etc.]. 1884 Cassell's Family Mag. Apr. 271/1 The beautiful cool grey-green of the silver wattle. 1936 Fortune Oct. 42/1 (advt.) The cool amber of a Martini, the deep glow of a Manhattan, the subtle satisfaction of a Side Car. 1991 Artist Nov. 23/3 He employs a restricted palette based on a division between warm and cool colours... The cool palette consists of French ultramarine, Prussian green, lamp black and titanium white.

    6. Hunting. Of a scent or trail: not fresh or recent; faint, weak. Also in extended use. Cf. COLD adj. 12a , WARM adj. 5.

1647 N. BACON Hist. Disc. Govt. 253 Though..they lost ground and hunted upon a coole sent. 1822 A. T. DE VERE Julian Apostate 32 It is in truth a cunning hound, and keen too; No nose like his to hunt a cool scent up. 1831 New Sporting Mag. Oct. 416/2 Those who ride well to them with a good scent, are indifferent about being forward with a cool one.1893 A. RIVES Athelwold V. ii. 87 Osw. Let this vext matter sleep. Ed. Thou know'st me not..when thou speak'st Of pausing here to let the scent grow cool. 1990 Times (Nexis) 5 Oct., The trail may have gone cool for New Model Army but Bob Dylan has lost the thread completely. 2001 R. BASS Colter xvi. 160, I walked briskly to keep up with Colter's [sc.a hunting dog's] bold casts. It was a beautiful, awe-provoking thing to see, the way he consumed that little forty [acre spur]: scouring it left to rightcatching every molecule of cool scent.

    7. colloq. Used to emphasize the size of a quantity, orig. and chiefly a sum of money. Only in attrib. use.
  Originally preceded by a with hundred or thousand; subsequently also with any numeral (cf. A adj. 3b).
  N.E.D. (1893) suggests that the sense was ‘perhaps originally “deliberately or calmly counted, reckoned, or told”, and hence “all told”, “entire”, “whole”’.

1721 C. CIBBER Refusal I. 10, I owe Crop the Lender a Brace, and if I have a single Simon to pay him, rot me: But the queer Coll promises to advance me t'other three, and bring me home, provided you will let him sneak into your List for a cool Thousand. 1749 H. FIELDING Tom Jones III. VIII. xii. 263 He had lost a cool hundred, and would play no longer.1771 T. SMOLLETT Humphry Clinker II. 110 My table alone stands me in a cool thousand a quarter. 1844 B. DISRAELI Coningsby II. IV. v. 54 Lord Monmouth had the satisfaction of drawing the Whig Minister at Naples into a cool thousand on the event. 1861 DICKENS Great Expectations III. xviii. 303 She left that cool four thousand unto him. 1870 ‘W. BRADWOOD’ The O.V.H. 264 To save me a cool seven hundred a year. 1941 H. VAN ZELLER Jeremias xiv. 137 Hanameel..got a cool seventeen shekels for a piece of land. 1958Punch 27 Aug. 283/3 Some depressing Yank writer who takes a cool six hundred pages to chronicle the twenty-four-hour doings of a single character. 2007 Globe & Mail(Toronto) (Nexis) 22 Sept. R8 Last Christmas, he gave his parents..a cool million dollars, and $50,000 to each of his two sisters.

    8. colloq. (orig. U.S.).

    a. Attractively shrewd or clever; sophisticated, stylish, classy; fashionable, up to date; sexually attractive.
  The evidence indicates that this sense originated around the second decade of the 20th cent.; it is probably not exemplified by quot. 1884, in which the exact meaning of cool, from an article containing a list of undefined interjections (not all expressing approval) is uncertain; it could be a comment on a person's audacity (i.e. sense A. 2d).

[1884 J. A. HARRISON Negro Eng. in Anglia 7 257 Interjections... Dat's cool!] 1918 Bodleian Q. Rec. 2 152 A case, A lad, A head, A cool kid, all words for expressing admiration for another's cleverness or cunning. 1924 in M. Leadbitter & N. Slaven Blues Records (1968) 155 (song title) Cool Kind Daddy Blues. 1947 C. CALLOWAY et al. Hi-De-Ho Man(That's Me) (song MS) 2 Stay solid an' mellow a groovey cool fellow an' then you're gonna be sharp as me. 1949 F. LOESSER Hamlet in R. Kimball & S. Nelson Compl. Lyrics F. Loesser (2003) 150/3 She was a cool put-together chick That made men thrill. But Hamlet, he thought She was from Uglyville. 1952 Herald-Press (St. Joseph, Michigan) 23 June 14 To be ‘cool’ is the desire of every teen-ager but the title of ‘book gook’ (book worm) is to be shunned. 1959 Observer 25 Oct. 29/8 They got long, sloppy haircuts and wide knot ties and no-press suits with fat lapels. Very cool. 1972 G. LUKAS et al. Amer. Graffiti (film script) 33 (stage direct.), Terry continues to cruise the main drag, slouched low and looking cool in his newly acquired machine. 1990 M8 Dec. 63/2 I'm too cool to be suckered by the hype. 2000 Elle Sept. 329 For years, anything more than a slick of Vaseline or a brush of mascara was considered too try-hard to be cool.

    b. Originally in African-American usage: (as a general term of approval) admirable, excellent. Cf. HOT adj. 12c.
  Popularized among jazz musicians and enthusiasts in the late 1940s; cf. sense A. 2e , cool cat n. at Special uses 2.

1933 Z. N. HURSTON in Story Aug. 63 And whut make it so cool, he got money 'cumulated. And womens give it all to 'im. 1950 Neurotica Autumn 46 This is a cool pad man. 1951Newsweek 8 Oct. 28/3 If you like a guy or gal, they're cool. If they are real fat, real crazy, naturally they're real cool. 1957 Sunday Mail (Glasgow) 10 Feb. 11/6 Gonethe best, in the top rung, the coolest. 1970 R. THORP & R. BLAKE Music of their Laughter 5/2 It never ran, but it was a cool car. 1980 A. BEATTIE Falling in Place (1981) vii. 73 These jeans are so cool. 2007 Hello! 17 July 64 But people were coming up and asking me for my numberand asking if I wanted theirshow cool was that!

    c. In weakened use: all right, ‘OK’; satisfactory, acceptable; unproblematic, safe.

1951 J. KEROUAC On Road: Orig. Scroll (2007) 189 He [sc. the marijuana dealer] was absurdly cautious. ‘Got to look out for myself, things ain't cool this past week.’ 1952 G. MANDEL Flee Angry Strangers 257 Go on home to the Bronx, Dinch. You'll be cool up there. 1959 Esquire Nov. in R. L. Gold Jazz Lexicon (1964) 66 ‘Do you want to go to the movies?’ ‘It's cool with me (acquiescence).’ 1974 O. CLARK Diary 18 Apr. (1998) 13 Uptight Meeting with a complete breakdown. Have I burnt my boats? No, it's cool. 1984 A. THOMAS Intertidal Life i. 39, I am ‘laying another trip’ on him but that's cool, he can deal with it. 2001 G. JOSEPH Homegrown xxii. 308 He had seen Devon in the street and hid from him, unable to smile in his face and say that everything was cool.

    B. adv.    = COOLLY adv. (in various senses).

1673 J. RAY Observ. Journey Low-countries 252 [The streets] are made so on purpose,..partly to keep off the scorching beams of the Sun in Summer time, for the conveniency of walking cool. 1789 E. BUTLER Jrnl. 17 Apr. in E. M. Bell Hamwood Papers (1930) 200 He says he will fight any man who looks cool at him. 1800 Sporting Mag. 17 90/2 Nor did he ever look cool, even upon his enemies. 1861 T. PARKER Serm. Theism, Atheism, & Pop. Theol (ed. 3) x. 332 A woman wishes to walk cool in the summer's heat. 1944 L. ARMSTRONG in T. Brothers Louis Armstrong (1999) 86 They treated us rather cool when we went to work. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Sept. 38/2 He sits cool and has the ability to bring his horse off the pace.

    C. int.    colloq. (orig. U.S.). Expressing approval or assent: ‘All right!’ ‘OK!’ ‘Great!’

1948 New Yorker 3 July 28 The bebop people have a language of their own... Their expressions of approval include ‘cool’! 1957 C. K. MYERS Light in Dark Streets 79 Guess I'll head for the old lady's pad. It's uptown, only ten stops. Cool, man, cool. 1969 Phylon 30 198 Cool, man. 1994 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 21 Apr. A 20/5 Cool, this program does everything! 1997 C. BROOKMYRE Country of Blind (2001) vii. 172 ‘Staun oot the way an' let us get on wi' it.’ ‘Aye. Nae bother. Cool.’ 2003 R. LIDDLE Too Beautiful for You (2004) 161 ‘Uh’. ‘Oh right’. ‘Sure, cool’. We all say.

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    PHRASES

    colloq. (orig. U.S.). too cool for school: coolly self-possessed; extremely fashionable or trendy, esp. (freq. depreciative) self-regardingly or arrogantly so.
  In quot. 1981 with literal reference to a school.

[1981 Washington Post 12 Mar. (Virginia Weekly section) 1/3 As Pat likes to describe it, he was too cool for school. Instead of class, he preferred shoplifting.] 1985 Houston Chron. 9 May VI. 7/2 It feels pretty silly to adopt a too-cool-for-school facial expression..and then realize it is the wrong car. 1997 Mediaweek 17 Feb. 22/3 Is it a stretch to imagine the sideburned, too-cool-for-school guy..leading..a snake dance at a wild animal farm? 2004 L. SHORTER Hedonist's Guide Tallinn 82 The interior looks like a pull-out from Wallpaper magazine: easy on the eyes and a bit too cool for school.

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    SPECIAL USES

    S1. Predicative and parasynthetic. See also COOL-HEADED adj.

    a. cool-looking adj.

1819 A. REED No Fiction ix. 120 How grateful, at noon, in the shade of a tree, Which spreads within view of a *cool looking alley. 1941 Chicago Defender 5 Apr. 8/7 That cool looking cat that is taking Lucinda..around these days. 1992 H. MITCHELL One Man's Garden vi.119 The white..[flowers] with red eyes are cool-looking in the summer heat. 2002H. RITCHIE Friday Night Club (2003) III. viii. 276 This place is crammed with cool-looking twentysomethings.

    cool-rooted adj.

1820 KEATS Ode to Psyche in Lamia & Other Poems 118 *Cool-rooted flowers. 1904 W. DE LA MARE Henry Brocken 147 The cool-rooted flowers.

    cool-sheltered adj. Obs

1767 S. PENNINGTON Lett. III. 171 And here, *cool shelter'd from the mid-day sun.

    b. cool-brained adj. = COOL-HEADED adj.

1765 London Mag. Mar. 118/2, I am..neither what he calls a teacher, nor disposed to be a blind follower, either of an hot headed one, or of the *cool-brained Publicus. 1869 ‘M. TWAIN’ Innocents Abroad xxxviii. 126 Thick-headed commentators upon the Bible..work more damage to religion than sensible, cool-brained clergymen can fight away again.1930 Classical Jrnl. 25 376 What greater difference could two Athenians show than the difference of temper between this cool-brained realist..and Xenophon. 1985 Financial Times (Nexis) 24 Feb. (Weekend FT) p. vii, Cool-brained indeed is the traveller who can resist the odd few pence off a litre of Scotch.

    cool-hearted adj. = COLD-HEARTED adj.

1748 Humble Addr. Progress of Popery 4 Our lethargic, *cool-hearted and indifferent great Masters of Wisdom. 1856 La Crosse (Wisconsin) Independent Republican(Electronic text) 10 Sept., They will..show a degree of cool hearted villainy..on the part of the public officers. 1915 P. GRAINGER Let. 25 Dec. in All-round Man (1994) 15, I have always looked upon..the English as a somewhat cool-hearted but jolly clever..lot. 2006 New Yorker (Nexis) 7 Aug. 64 A writer often accused of being too cerebral and cool-hearted.

    S2. cool bag n. chiefly Brit. a bag made of insulated material, used for keeping food and drink cool.

1971 E. Afr. Standard (Nairobi) 10 Apr. 2/1 (advt.) For the best selection of..*cool boxes and bags. 1989 Grattan Direct Catal. Spring-Summer 578/1, 17 litre Populaire cool bag. Ideal for beach, picnics and frozen food shopping. 2003 N. BROWNLEE Everything you didn't need to know about UK 120 Special coolbags were given free to guests,..packed with goodies including champagne, smoked salmon wrap, ‘Jubilee Chicken’ and strawberries and cream.

    cool-blooded adj. = COLD-BLOODED adj. 2; cf. sense A. 2b.

1767 New Coll. Lett. Persons of Eminence II. 307 Would you believe that such a *cool blooded boy could ever become delirious? power, alas! 1816 SCOTT Black Dwarf vi, inTales of my Landlord 1st Ser. I. 125 That cool-blooded, hardened, unrelenting ruffian. 1865 G. MEREDITH Rhoda Fleming (1912) xxvi. 279 I'm not cool-blooded enough to bet against favourites. 2006 West Austral. (Perth) (Nexis) 7 Sept. (Features section) 22 You'd be a cool-blooded soul not to spare a passing thought to terrorism as you approach a visit to London these days.

    cool box n. an insulated container or compartment for keeping food and drink cool.

1919 L. R. BALDERSTON Housewifery viii. 216 In building a house, it is well to provide a *cool box built on the outside wall of the house. 1970 Cape Times 28 Oct. 26/6 (advt.) Coleman cool boxes. 2005 Trav. Afr. Autumn 13/1 The boys had..wedged the cool boxes under a picnic bench, but the baboons had these after only a moderate workout.

    Cool Breeze n. (also with lower-case initials) (chiefly in African-American usage) used as a nickname or familiar form of address, esp. for a person regarded as shrewd, fashionable, or amiable.

1925 Pittsburgh Courier 17 Oct 10/3 Mr. Elwood Gardner, alias ‘*Cool Breeze’, is playing the Roosevelt Theatre. 1967 M. BRALY On Yard (2002) xiii. 197 Cool Breeze jus' bogart his way in. 1995 Charlotte (N. Carolina) Observer (Nexis) 14 May 18V, What's up, cool breeze? 2002 W. ELLIS Spiritual Exercises xxiii. 139 ‘Hey, Cool Breeze,’ Carl said, ‘What's happening?’

    cool-burning adj. (a) characterized by simultaneous sensations of heat and cold; (b) that burns at a low temperature.

1843 Q. Rev. Dec. 310/2 In the delirium of her agony, she talks of ‘*cool burning tears’. 1898 Times 7 Apr. 10/1 Having obtained this rapidity in combustion di-nitro-toluene was introduced as a taming ingredient and by its introduction produced a comparatively cool-burning powder with a combustion that was gradual. 1907 Practioner June 864 Arhovin..is a yellowish liquid of aromatic colour and slightly cool-burning taste. 1989 Industr. & Engin. Chem. Res. 28 431/1 Triaminoguanidine nitrate..has been used primarily as an oxidizer in cool-burning gun propellants for rapid fire weapon systems.

    cool cat n. an admirably fashionable or stylish person; spec. an enthusiast of jazz; cf. CAT n.¹ 2c , HEP-CAT n.

1942 Chicago Defender 23 May 10/6 Perry Givens played a *cool cat at the May dance Friday. 1957 N. MAILER in Dissent Summer 288 Still I am just one cat in a world of cool cats, and everything interesting is crazy, or at least so the Squares who do not know how to swing would say. 1991 C. EDDY Stairway to Hell 203/1 Three cool cats of the jazzistic variety.

    cool chamber n. (a) a special compartment or piece of apparatus which is kept cool or contains cool air; cf. hot chamber n. at HOT adj. and n.¹ Special uses 3; (b) a room kept cool for the storage of perishable goods; cf. cool room n.

1801 J. ANDERSON Recreations in Agric. V. 354 Let another opening be made in the roof, or higher part of the stove, communicating either with the open air, or with the *cool chamber above. 1884 Times 4 Jan. 12/3 They [sc. sheep carcasses] are hung from a rail in a cool chamber 1992 Logistics & Transportation Rev. (Nexis) June 207 They examine individual shipments, adding dummy variables for hazardous cargo and cargo requiring cool chamber storage. 1995 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92 6370/1 Electrophoresis was conducted on cellulose acetate gels..in a cool chamber (4°C) at 200 V for 30 min.

    cool-crape n. cant Obs. (a) a type of fabric (see quot. 1699); (b) a shroud.

1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew, *Cool-crape, a slight Chequer'd Stuff made in imitation of Scotch Plad. 1725 New Canting Dict., When a Person dies, he is said to be put into his Cool-crape. 1785 F. GROSE Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue, Cool crape, a shroud.

    cool cup n. Obs. = COOL TANKARD n.

1775 DUCHESS OF NORTHUMBERLAND Short Tour 28 We..had a *cool cup made to drink with it. 1856 A. F. HECTOR Agnes Waring II. xiii. 265 It's a cooling trifle I've brought you, a drink I'm introducing among the benighted creatures here; we call it cool cup at home.

    cool customer n. a person who is calm and composed, esp. where alarm, dismay, or diffidence would be expected (cf. senses A. 2a , A. 2d); cf. CUSTOMER n. 5.

1823 SCOTT St. Ronan's Well I xiii. 293 Yonder Tyrrel looks like a tevilish *cool customer..I can promise you he is mettle to the back bone. 1869 Ballou's Monthly Mag. July 98/1 (heading) A cool customer... A lathy fellow entered his place and ordered a double stew of oysters... ‘Seventy-five cents.’.. ‘I haint got any money.’ The last we ever saw of him he was walking very leisurely down the street. 1941 A. CHRISTIE Evil under Sun v. 96 Cool customer. Not giving anything away, is he? 1997 N. DEMILLE Plum Island xxviii. 379 He must have known that I knew both his secrets, yet he was not ruffled... A very cool customer, indeed.

    cool-drawn adj. Obs. (of oil) extracted or expressed without the aid of heat; cf. cold-drawn adj. at COLD adj. Special uses 3a , hot-drawn adj. at HOT adj. and n.¹ Special uses 4.

1774 T. KIRKLAND Treat. Child-bed Fevers ii. 145, I would recommend the application of linen cloths, wet in *cool-drawn linseed oil. 1795 Hull Advertiser 10 Oct. 2/1 Whale Oil of this and last year, Cool Drawn.

    coolhouse n. a greenhouse kept at a cool temperature.

1869 B. AUERBACH Villa on Rhine 69 There he is, in the *cool-house. 1958 Listener 21 Aug. 275/1 A Luculia growing up the back wall of a cool house. 2006 Belfast News Let.(Nexis) 4 Jan. 10 The large six-roomed house..with its own barn, smokehouse,..and coolhouse built over a spring.

    cool one n. N. Amer. colloq = cold one n. at COLD adj. Additions.

1955 San Antonio (Texas) Light 12 June 11A/1 One day before payday servicemen who have run out of cash can claim their dollar, have a few *cool ones while they sweat out the payline the next day. 2008 Above Law (Nexis) 22 Feb., Plaintiffs had been throwing down a few cool ones at a neighborhood watering hole.

    cool room n. a room kept cool (esp. by refrigeration) for the storage of perishable goods; (now) spec. (chiefly Austral. and N.Z.) one which forms part of a shop or other commercial premises.

1939 Agric. Hist. 13 88 All Northwestern apples..were sent in refrigerator cars to the Atlantic seaboard and transshipped on steamers equipped with *coolroom space. 1977Weekly Times (Melbourne) 19 Jan. 62/2 (advt.) News Milk Bar, deli. fruit and vegs, coolroom, freehold, 3br residence. 1996 N.Z. News UK 28 Feb. 11/2 (advt.) We require the services of..service persons with supermarket rack, coolroom and commercial refrigeration experience. 2003 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 25 Jan. 13 Fruit and vegetables languishing in cool rooms or freezers for weeks, even months, before they are brought out.

    cool store n. chiefly Austral. and N.Z. a building or room kept cool for the storage of perishable goods; cf. cool room n.

1906 Jrnl. Soc. Compar. Legislation 7 447 Any produce that has been seized must be kept, if possible, in a *cool store pending the result of legal proceedings. 1959 N.Z. Listener18 Dec. 8/1 The trees were all about..and only occasionally between them was a gleam of the sun... ‘Like being in a cool-store, isn't it?’ 2001 Weekly Times (Austral.) (Nexis) 24 Oct. 4 About 70-80 per cent of the electricity used on Mr Ahmet's Shepparton property goes to power his cool store.

    cool-touch adj. (of electrical equipment) having an outer casing or surface which is cool to the touch.

1954 Los Angeles Times 25 Apr. I. 9 (advt.) ‘*Cool touch’ handles. 1980 Evening Capital (Annapolis, Maryland) 11 Feb. 6/1 (advt.) Heated curling brush... Cool touch nylon bristles keep heated core away from fingers. 1995 M. LAWRENCE et al. Which? Guide Home Safety & Security i. 14 Keep small children away from the hob and ovenespeciallyits glass door, unless you have a cool-touch type.

    cool-trough n. (also (Yorks.) cou-trough, col-trough) now hist. a trough of cold water used by a blacksmith to cool hot iron.

1565 T. COOPER Thesaurus at Ferraria aqua, Smithes water in the *cole trough [wherin] they quench yron. 1659 C. HOOLE tr. J. A. Comenius Visible World 141 He quencheth Hot-Irons in the Cool-trough. 1888 S. O. ADDY Gloss. Words Sheffield 52 Cou-trough, a trough of cold water into which a blacksmith plunges hot iron. It is sometimes called col-trough. 2002 J. UNWIN in M. C. Beaudry Findings (2006) v. 121 Joshua Russell, d. 1698, had a smithy with two hearths and a complement of tools for eachbellows, stock, anvil, cool-trough, hammers and tongs.

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