head cold
5
1.8
- noun
- /hɛd koʊld/
:
resfriado
- After spending the night outside, I woke up with a nasty head cold that kept me in bed.
- get a head cold
- bad head cold
Examples
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The entire staff here at Clastic Detritus came down with a nasty head cold and could only maintain enough mental focus to watch movies.
Blog text (21) -
I have a fever, he wrote, my chest is congested, and on top of that, I have a head cold.
Fiction book (1994) -
I take it for the common head cold.
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Had a bit of a head cold.
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Maybe nothing worse than a bad head cold.
-
Now remember, your partner here came down with a severe head cold.
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I'm starting to get a head cold which sucks.
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When I caught my first head cold of fall last week, I was so bummed.
Blog text (24) -
It is cold and dark here during my peak running times, and I have been battling a bad head cold for more than a week.
Blog text (19) -
It seemed like a simple but painful head cold that mostly affected the sinuses.
Blog text (14)
Synonyms
171
1.0
A common virus infection of the nose and throat
17
1.1
A mild virus infection of the nose and throat that causes a runny nose, sneezing, and sore throat
1
1.8
A mild cold that makes your nose run or feel blocked
1
6.3
Swelling and irritation of the area behind the nose and above the throat that causes cold symptoms
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'cold' names a mild viral infection and 'head' specifies the location (the head/upper respiratory area), so a learner who knows both words can infer a cold affecting the head. This noun–noun compound follows common, cross-linguistic locative/compositional patterns and is therefore immediately understandable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The noun head cold comes from the image of a cold that sits in the head, in the nose and sinuses, causing a runny nose and headache. So, head cold now means a mild, short illness that mainly affects the nose and throat.