cold feet

noun Informal.
a loss or lack of courage or confidence; an onset of uncertainty or fear: She got cold feet when asked to sing a solo.

Origin:
1890–95

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
cold feet
 
pl n
informal loss or lack of courage or confidence

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
Cold feet is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

cold feet
1893, Amer.Eng., but the presumed It. original (avegh minga frecc i pee) is a Lombard proverb meaning "to have no money."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

cold feet definition


To “have cold feet” is to be too fearful to undertake or complete an action: “The backup quarterback was called into the game, but he got cold feet and refused to go in.”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary

cold feet definition


  1. n.
    a wave of timidity or fearfulness. : Suddenly I had cold feet and couldn't sing a note.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Example sentences
There is no risk of workers and customers having cold feet.
Both countries are now getting cold feet, claiming misuse of the resolution's
  elastic language.
Even some companies that stand to be enriched by the construction work have
  begun getting cold feet.
Yet they are not the only ones to have developed cold feet.
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