to cool it
55
6.2
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
calmarse
- After the argument, he needed to cool it before their next conversation.
- just cool it
- Hey, cool it
- say 'cool it'
Are you are you trying to cool it down?
- Are you are you trying to cool it down?
- So just cool it, move back and you'll find things to be much better for you and the Xi Jinping leadership.
Examples
-
Jeanne says that maybe they had better cool it.
Fiction book (1998) -
I grin as I hug her next and tell her to cool it.
Fiction book (1996) -
I guess we should cool it for a while.
Fiction book (1999) -
I tell her to cool it.
Fiction book (1999) -
God, would you cool it, Lucy?
-
It's not as though he hadn't been told to cool it in the past.
Fiction book (1995) -
Come on, guys, let's cool it with the profanity.
-
I rip off my mask and yell at her to cool it.
Fiction book (1998) -
Step back, put the stapler down, and cool it on the expletives.
Blog text (27) -
So what I would do if I were Mahmoud Abbas is I would cool it on the public rhetoric.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To feel less nervous and more calm
594
1.4
To become less angry, excited, or upset
103
2.7
Pull air slowly into your lungs to calm yourself
99
4.9
To relax and become calm after you feel upset
68
3.2
To make someone or something calm and less noisy
57
3.7
To make something less strong or strict
56
2.5
To become quiet and calm after being excited
50
2.7
To become calmer, less angry, or less hot
42
2.0
Make people or things less noisy and less active
30
3.4
Stay calm and control your feelings when things are hard
19
2.5
Feel less angry or excited
14
4.1
To become calm after strong feelings or to tell someone else to calm down
10
6.3
Become more relaxed and easygoing
9
4.0
To become gradually less strong or severe
3
3.9
Stay calm and not get angry or excited in a difficult situation
3
4.6
Make someone or something less noisy and calmer
2
8.6
Calm down and relax after feeling stressed or excited
Tell someone or yourself to relax and stop being angry in a rude way
Antonyms
How Calm
33
4.7
- Informal
55
6.2
- Informal
594
1.4
- Informal
42
2.0
56
2.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
cool + it
The verb 'cool' (to lessen emotional intensity) combined with the dummy pronoun 'it' yields a clear imperative meaning 'calm down' or 'be quiet.' This is a regular, compositional use following common English patterns (compare 'cool down', 'calm down'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrasal verb cool it comes from the simple image of making something less hot: to cool a hot thing and make it calm, with it meaning the person or feeling being cooled. So cool it means 'to calm down'.