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chillness

 - 7 dictionary results

chill

  [chil]
Use chillness in a Sentence
–noun
1. coldness, esp. a moderate but uncomfortably penetrating coldness: the chill of evening.
2. a sensation of cold, usually with shivering: She felt a slight chill from the open window.
3. a feeling of sudden fear, anxiety, or alarm.
4. sudden coldness of the body, as during the cold stage of an ague: fevers and chills.
5. a depressing influence or sensation: His presence cast a chill over everyone.
6. lack of warmth of feeling; unfriendliness; coolness.
7. Foundry. an inserted object or a surface in a mold capable of absorbing large amounts of heat, used to harden the surface of a casting or to increase its rate of solidification at a specific point.
8. bloom 1 (def. 10).
–adjective
9. moderately cold; tending to cause shivering; chilly: a chill wind.
10. shivering with or affected by cold; chilly.
11. depressing or discouraging: chill prospects.
12. Slang. cool (def. 14).
13. unduly formal; unfriendly; chilly: a chill reception.
–verb (used without object)
14. to become cold: The earth chills when the sun sets.
15. to be seized with a chill; shiver with cold or fear.
16. Foundry. (of a casting) to become hard on the surface by contact with a chill or chills.
–verb (used with object)
17. to affect with cold; make chilly: The rain has chilled me to the bone.
18. to make cool: Chill the wine before serving.
19. to depress; discourage; deter: The news chilled his hopes.
20. Foundry. to harden the surface of (a casting) by casting it in a mold having a chill or chills.
21. bloom 1 (def. 17).
22. Slang. to kill; murder.
—Verb phrase
23. chill out, Slang. to calm down; relax.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME chile, OE ci(e)le, cele coolness; akin to gelid, cool, cold

Related forms:
chill⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
chillness, noun

Synonyms:
9. See cold. 13. cold, aloof, hostile, stiff.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To chillness
chill   (chĭl)   
n.  

  1. A moderate but penetrating coldness.

  2. A sensation of coldness, often accompanied by shivering and pallor of the skin.

  3. A checking or dampening of enthusiasm, spirit, or joy: bad news that put a chill on the celebration.

  4. A sudden numbing fear or dread.

adj.  

  1. Moderately cold; chilly: a chill wind.

  2. Not warm and friendly; distant: a chill greeting.

  3. Discouraging; dispiriting: "Chill penury repressed their noble rage" (Thomas Gray).

v.   chilled, chill·ing, chills

v.   tr.

  1. To affect with or as if with cold.

  2. To lower in temperature; cool.

  3. To make discouraged; dispirit.

  4. Metallurgy To harden (a metallic surface) by rapid cooling.

v.   intr.

  1. To be seized with cold.

  2. To become cold or set: jelly that chills quickly.

  3. Metallurgy To become hard by rapid cooling.

  4. Slang

    1. To calm down or relax. Often used with out.

    2. To pass time idly; loiter. Often used with out.

    3. To keep company; see socially. Often used with out.


[Middle English chile, from Old English cele; see gel- in Indo-European roots.]
chill'ing·ly adv., chill'ness n.
Our Living Language  : In the 1980s and 1990s, chill gained currency as a slang term meaning "to relax, calm down." It is first recorded in 1979 and comes from Black English slang, which has frequently been a source of slang and informal words in Standard English, often through the medium of various African-American musical styles (in this case, rap and hip-hop). In fact, the word chill has had several incarnations as a slang term both inside and outside Black English. An older slang sense, recorded first in the 1870s, has been "to lose interest (in something), sour (on something)." Since the late 1920s it has also been used transitively to mean "to quash" and even "to kill." The recent use in the sense "to calm down" is another example of slang's innovativeness: English has always used words referring to heat and cold metaphorically to refer to emotions, and has used cool to refer to calmness since Old English times. Chill is a novel way of saying cool down, an old metaphor. The semantic evolution of chill continues as this is being written; the new sense of "to relax" has even more recently been extended to mean "to relax among friends, socialize." Chill thus offers a good example of how living languages are constantly changing in ways that are at once unpredictable and immediately comprehensible.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
chill (out)

  1. in.
    to calm down; to be cool; to get cool; to relax. : Before we can debate this matter, you're all gonna have to chill out.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

chill  (n.)
O.E. ciele, cele "cold," from P.Gmc. *kal- "to be cold," from PIE base *gel- "cold." The verb (both lit. and figurative) is 14c., from the noun. Meaning "hang out" first recorded 1985; from earlier (1979) sense of chill out "relax." Chilly "feeling rather cold" is from 1611.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: chill
Function: transitive verb
: to discourage esp. through fear of penalty : have a chilling effect on chill the exercise of…free expression —M. H. Redish>
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 2chill
Function: intransitive verb
1 a : to become cold b : to shiver or quake with or as if with cold
2 : to become affected with a chill chill transitive senses
: to make cold or chilly
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

chill (chĭl)
n.
A feeling of cold, with shivering and pallor, sometimes accompanied by an elevation of temperature in the interior of the body.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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