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give someone the cold shoulder. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
give someone the cold shoulder, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
give someone the cold shoulder in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
give someone the cold shoulder you have here. The definition of the word
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give someone the cold shoulder, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
First recorded use of the expression was in 1816 by Sir Walter Scott in Scots (“The Countess’s dislike didna gang farther at first than just showing o’ the cauld shouther”.) This expression and its German equivalent are mistranslations of dederunt umerum recedentem from the Book of Nehemiah 9:29 from the Vulgate Bible, which actually means "stubbornly they turned their backs on you", which comes from the Septuagint Bible's equivalent ἔδωκαν (édōkan) νῶτον ἀπειθοῦντα. Latin umerus means both "shoulder" and "back".
Pronunciation
Verb
give someone the cold shoulder (third-person singular simple present gives someone the cold shoulder, present participle giving someone the cold shoulder, simple past gave someone the cold shoulder, past participle given someone the cold shoulder)
- (idiomatic) To snub, resist or reject somebody; to regard somebody distantly.
- I must have made him angry with my comment. He’s been giving me the cold shoulder ever since I said it.
Translations