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Glite Dictionary
cold in one's bones

cold in one's bones

8.1
A deep feeling of cold that goes into the body
  • idiom
translation icon : frío en los huesos
  • Even with the heater on, I could still feel the cold in my bones.

Examples

  • After waiting outside for hours, he had a cold in his bones that lasted all night.

  • I felt a cold in my bones.

  • The damp weather left a cold in her bones that would not go away.

  • Don't you feel a cold in your bones when it rains?

  • After being out in the snow for hours, I felt the cold in my bones.

  • Even with a warm coat on, he couldn't shake the cold in his bones from the chilly wind.

  • As the sun set and temperatures dropped, she suddenly felt the cold in her bones.

Synonyms

chill
vscold in one's bones
87 1.0

A feeling of being cold, often from illness or cold weather

is a deeper sensation that reaches far into the body rather than a brief shiver
coldness
vscold in one's bones
5 1.0

A feeling or condition of low temperature

is a deeper sensation that reaches far into the body rather than a general state
chilliness
vscold in one's bones
1.6

A slight cold feeling in the air or on your body

is a deeper sensation that reaches far into the body rather than slight coolness

Antonyms

warmth
90 1.0

A gentle feeling of heat on your skin

How Cold

to chill to the bone
  • Informal
3 6.3
cold in one's bones
8.1
cold
∞ 1.0
chilly
100 1.0
cool
65 1.0

Surface Forms

cold in one's bones singular
cold in one's bones plural

Morphology

cold + in + one's + bone

The meaning 'a deep, penetrating feeling of cold' is directly inferable from combining 'cold' with the locative 'in' and the body part 'bones' (with 'one's' as a generic possessive), which transparently conveys cold reaching into the body. This compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically (e.g. 'cold to the bone'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would very likely grasp the intended meaning.

Etymology

The idiom cold in one's bones may come from the image of cold reaching deep into your bones, as if the chill has moved to the very centre of your body. That's why it means 'a deep chill' that you feel inside and find hard to warm away.