pour cold water on

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pour cold water on (third-person singular simple present pours cold water on, present participle pouring cold water on, simple past and past participle poured cold water on)

1. (idiomatic) Synonym of throw cold water on (“to belittle or dismiss”).
   • 2020 November 4, Philip Haigh, “Cracks and divisions over funding for public transport”, in Rail, pages 54–55:

     Leaked documents from TfL poured cold water over the prospect of driverless trains. They concluded there was no financial case because because of the very high up-front infrastructure costs.

   • 2024 March 5, Tom Phillips, Etienne Côté-Paluck, “US says no troops to Haiti as country reels from explosion of gang violence”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     However, a national security council official poured cold water on the suggestion there would be US “boots on the ground” in Haiti, telling the Washington-based agency: “The United States is not sending US troops to Haiti to support the Haitian national police’s security operations.”

• throw cold water on

• “pour cold water on”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.