cool

• (slang) coo, kewl, kool, qewl, qool

• enPR: ko͞ol, IPA^(key): /kuːl/
• Rhymes: -uːl

From Middle English cool, from Old English cōl (“cool, cold, tranquil, calm”), from Proto-Germanic *kōluz, *kōlaz (“cool”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“cold”). Cognate with Dutch koel (“cool”), German kühl (“cool”). Related to cold.

cool (comparative cooler, superlative coolest)

1. Having a slightly low temperature; mildly or pleasantly cold.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:

     The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: […] .

2. Allowing or suggesting heat relief.

   a cool grey colour

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess‎:

     Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety.  She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.

3. Of a person, not showing emotion; calm and in control of oneself.
4. Unenthusiastic, lukewarm, skeptical.

   His proposals had a cool reception.

5. Calmly audacious.

   In control as always, he came up with a cool plan.

   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “V. Hester at her Needle”, in The Scarlet Letter‎:

     Its cool stare of familiarity was intolerable.

6. Applied facetiously to a sum of money, commonly as if to give emphasis to the largeness of the amount.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Henry Fielding

     He had lost a cool hundred.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Charles Dickens

     leaving a cool four thousand to Mr. Matthew Pocket

   • 1944 November 28, Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe, Meet Me in St. Louis, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer:

     My father was talking to the World's Fair Commission yesterday, and they estimate it's going to cost a cool fifty million.

7. (informal) Of a person, knowing what to do and how to behave; considered popular by others.
   • 2017 December 27, “The Guardian view on Prince Harry: the monarchy’s best insurance policy”, in the Guardian‎:

     He managed to conduct interviews with the least cool global figure – his father, Prince Charles – and the most cool, Barack Obama, in a way that allowed them both to look as good as they could.

8. (informal) In fashion, part of or fitting the in crowd; originally hipster slang.
   • 2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xii

     The fact that I was middle-aged, bald, married, and raising girls instead of chasing them didn't really bother me. Muscles are cool at any age.

9. (informal) Of an action, all right; acceptable; that does not present a problem.

   Is it cool if I sleep here tonight?

10. (informal) Of a person, not upset by circumstances that might ordinarily be upsetting.

    I'm completely cool with my girlfriend leaving me.

• ^  The earliest use of the word in this way seems to be in Wilkie Collins' "The Moonstone" 1868:

  "She has been a guest of yours at this house," I answered. "May I venture to suggest — if nothing was said about me beforehand — that I might see her here?"

  "Cool!" said Mr. Bruff. With that one word of comment on the reply that I had made to him, he took another turn up and down the room.

  "In plain English," he said, "my house is to be turned into a trap to catch Rachel ...

• In 1602, Shakespeare wrote that Queen Gertrude told Hamlet:

  "O gentle son, Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper, Sprinkle cool patience."

• (having a slightly low temperature) chilly
• (not showing emotion) distant, phlegmatic, standoffish, unemotional
• (in fashion)
  • (standard) à la mode, fashionable, in fashion, modish, stylish
  • (colloquial or slang) happening, hip, in, trendy
• (acceptable) acceptable, all right, OK
• (not upset) easy, fine, not bothered, not fussed

• (having a slightly low temperature) lukewarm, tepid, warm
• (not showing emotion) passionate
• (knowing what to do and how to behave) awkward, uncool
• (in fashion) démodé, old hat, out, out of fashion
• (acceptable) not cricket (UK), not on, unacceptable
• (not upset) bothered, upset
• (unenthusiastic) warm

cool (uncountable)

1. A moderate or refreshing state of cold; moderate temperature of the air between hot and cold; coolness.

   in the cool of the morning

2. A calm temperament.

   Synonyms: calmness, composure

3. The property of being cool, popular or in fashion.

From Middle English colen, from Old English cōlian (“to cool, grow cold, be cold”), from Proto-Germanic *kōlēną (“to become cold”), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to freeze”). Cognate with Dutch koelen (“to cool”), German kühlen (“to cool”), Swedish kyla (“to cool, refrigerate”). Also partially from Middle English kelen, from Old English cēlan (“to cool, be cold, become cold”), from Proto-Germanic *kōlijaną (“to cool”), altered to resemble the adjective cool. See keel.

cool (third-person singular simple present cools, present participle cooling, simple past and past participle cooled)

1. (intransitive, literally) To lose heat, to get colder.

   I like to let my tea cool before drinking it so I don't burn my tongue.

2. (transitive) To make cooler, less warm.
   • Bible, Luke xvi. 24:

     Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue.

3. (figuratively, intransitive) To become less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.

   Relations cooled between the USA and the USSR after 1980.

4. (transitive) To make less intense, e.g. less amicable or passionate.
   • Shakespeare:

     We have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts.

5. (transitive) To kill.
   • Sex Jungle (narrated in Perversion for Profit, 1965)

     Maybe he would die. That would mean I had murdered him. I smiled, trying the idea on for size. One of the things that always had cheesed me a little was that I had no kills to my credit. I'd been in plenty of rumbles, but somehow, I'd never cooled anyone. Well maybe now I had my first one. I couldn't feel very proud of skulling an old man, but at least I could say that I'd scored. That was a big kick.

• Colo, Colo., colo, colo-, loco

From English cool.

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: koel

cool (comparative cooler, superlative coolst)

1. cool, fashionable

From English cool.

• IPA^(key): /kul/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophones: coule, coules, coulent

cool (invariable)

1. cool (only its informal senses, mainly fashionable)

   Les jeunes sont cool.

   Young people are cool.

   Les jeunes boivent de l'alcool pour être cool.

   Young people drink alcohol to be cool.

cool

1. cool! great!

• looc

From English cool, from Proto-Germanic *kōlaz (cf. German kühl)

• IPA^(key): [kuːl]

• Audio

  (file)

cool (comparative cooler, superlative am coolsten)

1. (colloquial) cool (in its informal senses)

   Synonyms: brilliant, genial, geil

   Die Musik war echt cool.

   The music was very cool.

2. (colloquial) cool, calm, easy-going

   Synonyms: lässig, ruhig

   Als Trainer muss mann ziemlich cool sein.

   As a trainer you have to be quite easy-going.

• cool in Duden online

cool (plural cools or cool)

1. cool (in its informal sense)

Borrowed from English cool.

• IPA^(key): /kuːl/

cool (comparative coolare, superlative coolast)

1. cool! great!