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cold cuts

cold cuts

9 2.0
Sliced meats like turkey or ham served cold for sandwiches and platters
  • noun
  • /koʊld kʌts/
translation icon : fiambres
  • The catered lunch included a variety of cold cuts and cheeses for everyone to enjoy.
  • cheese and cold cuts
  • bread and cold cuts
  • cold cuts and salads

So processed meat, bacon, you know the Subway sandwich, you know cold cuts.

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Examples

  • There were salads, thinly sliced bread, and cold cuts.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • Jake laid out the cold cuts on a platter.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • We can buy some cold cuts, eat in the room.

  • And a little plate of cold cuts, if there are any left.

  • Kathleen had left a sandwich made from his cold cuts on the table.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Ronnie, why don't you run down to the store, and you get some cold cuts for all of us for lunch?

  • Maybe we'd better pick up some cold cuts and a few gallons of beer on the way home.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • There were fifty pounds of meat in there—we ate cold cuts for weeks.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • But delicious stuff: cold cuts, pickles, fresh rye bread, cream sodas; you thought you were in a deli, Petaks, maybe.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • You got cold cuts, bagels, coffee, lox, celery tonic and bran muffins.

Synonyms

lunch meat
vscold cuts
  • US
2 1.7

Cold sliced cooked meat used in sandwiches or as a snack

is broader, covering assorted cooked or cured meats beyond processed loaves
luncheon meat
vscold cuts
1 3.0

Sliced cooked meat sold in a can or loaf and usually served cold

is broader, including assorted cooked or cured items rather than mainly canned

How Ready

cold cuts
9 2.0
roast
197 1.0
raw meat
14 1.0

Surface Forms

cold cuts singular
cold cuts plural

Morphology

cold + cut

The meaning is directly compositional: 'cold' (served at a low temperature) modifies 'cuts' (slices/portions of meat), so a learner who knows both words can infer 'slices of meat served cold.' This follows a basic adjective+noun pattern and is a common culinary concept cross-linguistically, making it readily understandable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The noun cold cuts comes from a simple image: thin cuts of cooked or preserved meat kept cold in a shop or deli, ready to eat. That's why cold cuts means 'sliced meats served cold' today.