Cold
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words [1]
"coldness, cold," appears in John 18:18; Acts 28:2; 2—Corinthians 11:27 .
"cool, fresh, cold, chilly" (fuller in expression than psuchos), is used in the natural sense in Matthew 10:42 , "cold water;" metaphorically in Revelation 3:15,16 .
"to breathe, blow, cool by blowing," Passive Voice, "grow cool," is used metaphorically in Matthew 24:12 , in the sense of waning zeal or love.
King James Dictionary [2]
COLD, a.
1. Not warm or hot gelid, frigid a relative term. A substance is cold to the touch, when it is less warm then the body, and when in contact, the heat of the body passes from the body to the substance as cold air a cold stone cold water. It denotes a greater degree of the quality than cool. 2. Having the sensation of cold chill shivering, or inclined to shiver as, I am cold. 3. Having cold qualities as a cold plant. 4. Frigid wanting passion, zeal ro ardor indifferent unconcerned not animated, or easily excited into action as a cold spectator a cold Christian a cold lover, or friend a cold temper.
Thou art neither cold nor hot. Revelation 3 .
5. Not moving unaffecting not animated not able to excite feeling spiritless as a cold discourse a cold jest. 6. Reserved coy not affectionate, cordial or friendly indicating indifference as a cold look a cold return of civilities a cold reception. 7. Not heated by sensual desire. 8. Not hasty not violent. 9. Not affecting the scent strongly. 10. Not having the scent strongly affected.
COLD, n.
1. The sensation produced in animal bodies by the escape of heat, and the consequent contraction of the fine vessels. Also, the cause of that sensation. Heat expands the vessels, and cold contracts them and the transition from an expanded to a contracted state is accompanied with a sensation to which, as well as to the cause of it, we give the denomination of cold. Hence cold is a privation of heat, or the cause of it. 2. A shivering the effect of the contraction of the fine vessels of the body chilliness, or chillness. 3. A disease indisposition occasioned by cold catarrh.
Webster's Dictionary [3]
(1): (v. i.) To become cold.
(2): (n.) A morbid state of the animal system produced by exposure to cold or dampness; a catarrh.
(3): (n.) Distant; - said, in the game of hunting for some object, of a seeker remote from the thing concealed.
(4): (n.) Not pungent or acrid.
(5): (n.) Wanting in ardor, intensity, warmth, zeal, or passion; spiritless; unconcerned; reserved.
(6): (n.) Unwelcome; disagreeable; unsatisfactory.
(7): (n.) Wanting in power to excite; dull; uninteresting.
(8): (n.) Affecting the sense of smell (as of hunting dogs) but feebly; having lost its odor; as, a cold scent.
(9): (n.) Not sensitive; not acute.
(10): (n.) The sensation produced by the escape of heat; chilliness or chillness.
(11): (n.) Having a bluish effect. Cf. Warm, 8.
(12): (n.) The relative absence of heat or warmth.
(13): (n.) Lacking the sensation of warmth; suffering from the absence of heat; chilly; shivering; as, to be cold.
(14): (n.) Deprived of heat, or having a low temperature; not warm or hot; gelid; frigid.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types [4]
Jeremiah 18:14 (b) GOD's Word and His messages from His prophets are compared, or rather contrasted, with the sweet, cold, refreshing streams from Lebanon as against the brackish, stale waters that come from earth's cisterns. (See Jeremiah 2:13).
Matthew 10:42 (a) The Lord specifies cold water to indicate that some effort has been made to prepare this drink and make it both palatable, attractive and satisfying to the thirsty.
Matthew 24:12 (a) Cold love is an indifferent love. The soul is not aroused and the heart is not stirred, even though there is a mental attitude of love toward another. (See also Revelation 3:15).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [5]
kōld ( קר , ḳōr ; ψυχρός , psuchrós (adj.), ψύχος , psúchos (noun)): Palestine is essentially a land of sunshine and warmth.
The extreme cold of northern latitudes is unknown. January is the coldest month; but the degree of cold in a particular place depends largely on the altitude above the sea. On the seacoast and plain the snow never falls; and the temperature reaches freezing-point, perhaps once in thirty years. In Jerusalem at 2,500 ft. above the sea the mean temperature in January is about 45 degrees F., but the minimum may be as low as 25 degrees F. Snow occasionally falls, but lasts only a short time. On Mt. Hermon and on the Lebanons snow may be found the whole year, and the cold is most intense, even in the summer. In Jericho and around the Dead Sea, 1,292 ft. below sea-level, it is correspondingly hotter, and cold is not known.
Cold is of such short duration that no adequate provision is made by the people to protect themselves against the cold. The sun is always bright and warm, and nearly always shines for part of the day, even in winter. After sunset the people wrap themselves up and go to sleep. They prefer to wrap up their heads rather than their feet in order to keep warm. The only means of heating the houses is the charcoal brazier around which as many as possible gather for a little warmth. It is merely a bed of coals in an iron vessel. Peter was glad to avail himself of the little heat of the coals as late as the beginning of April, when the nights are often chilly in Jerusalem: "Having made a fire of coals; for it was cold:... and Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself" ( John 18:18 ). There is no attempt made to heat the whole house. In the cold winter months the people of the mountains almost hibernate. They wrap up their heads in shawls and coverings and only the most energetic venture out: "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter" ( Proverbs 20:4 , the King James Version "cold"). The peasants and more primitive people of the desert often make a fire in the open or in partial shelter, as in Melita where Paul was cast ashore after shipwreck: "The barbarians ... kindled a fire ... because of the cold" ( Acts 28:2 ).
The cold is greatly dreaded because it causes so much actual suffering: "Who can stand before his cold?" ( Psalm 147:17 ). The last degree of degradation is to have "no covering in the cold" ( Job 24:7 ).
In the heat of the long summer, the shadow of a rock or the cool of evening is most grateful, and the appreciation of a cup of cold water can easily be understood by anyone who has experienced the burning heat of the Syrian sun: "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country" ( Proverbs 25:25 ); "cold of snow in the time of harvest" ( Proverbs 25:13 ), probably with reference to the use of snow (shaved ice) in the East to cool a beverage.
Figurative uses: "The love of the many shall wax cold" ( Matthew 24:12 ); "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot" ( Revelation 3:15 ).
