to weather the cold
- phrasal verb
- The campers managed to weather the cold by staying close to the fire during the night.
Examples
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Residents in the Northeast had weathered the cold and the dark but were getting some much-needed warmth at last.
Blog text (21) -
Despite the freezing temperatures, the workers were able to weather the cold and complete their shift.
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They taught their children how to weather the cold when going on winter hikes, ensuring they were bundled up warmly.
Synonyms
To stay strong until a difficult time ends
To stay in a place during the cold season
To stay somewhere during the winter to survive the cold
Antonyms
How Resilient
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'weather' means 'to endure or outlast hardship', so combined with the noun phrase 'the cold' the meaning is directly compositional: 'to endure the cold'. This follows a regular English verb + object pattern and is readily inferable by a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Weather the cold comes from the clear picture of staying through bad weather: the verb weather means to remain safe while wind, snow or rain hit you, and cold is the hard weather you face. So, to weather the cold means 'to get through' or 'survive' a cold period.