out cold
27
6.9
- idiom
- Informal
:
inconsciente
- He's out cold in the examining room.
And he was slumped over, face down, I mean out cold, completely turned white.
- And he was slumped over, face down, I mean out cold, completely turned white.
- Like he he bounced and watching back he was asleep like he was out cold.
- I'm like oh man, they made a mistake and I'm like wait a minute now they wouldn't make a mistake that big and that I hit the floor and I was out pretty much out cold.
- And I was like, yeah, Jimmy Savile you can sparked me out, sparked me out cold.
- I'm fucked so taking these two tablets and when I mean I was spark out cold knockout, I'd best sleep in my life.
- He got knocked out cold, headshot dead, as Leon says, spectacular, put to sleep.
Examples
-
The boxer was knocked out cold after the powerful punch from his opponent.
-
The guy was out cold, as still as the pavement on which he was sprawled.
Fiction book (1992) -
I think he was out cold for a while.
Academic text (2004) -
I was out cold, and you probably had something to do with that, too.
Fiction book (1998) -
Luke had tried to rise, but passed out cold before he ever gained his feet.
Fiction book (2000) -
He is still out cold.
-
We tried to wake him, but he's passed out cold.
-
When she arrived with a glass of water and two aspirin, he was already passed out cold.
Fiction book (1999) -
Dodge found you out cold in one of the cabins.
Fiction book (2002) -
The penguin throws a look at Bruce, who's still out cold on the floor.
Fiction book (1992)
Synonyms
73
1.0
Become not awake
29
4.6
Not awake after a strong hit to the head
7
7.3
To fall asleep or become unconscious very quickly
2
3.5
Completely not awake and hard to wake
2
7.2
Completely unconscious after a hard hit to the head
1
6.8
Not conscious after a hit or fall
Antonyms
How Awake
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'out' (a common colloquial use meaning unconscious or knocked out) with 'cold' as an intensifier to mean completely unconscious; the meaning is clearly related to the constituent senses. However, the use of 'out' to mean unconscious is a phrasal/colloquial sense and the exact collocation may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Out cold may come from the image of a person lying 'out' in the open and becoming cold and very still after being knocked down. So 'out cold' came to mean 'completely unconscious' or in a very deep sleep.