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in cold blood
Idioms and Phrases
In a purposely ruthless and unfeeling manner, as in The whole family was murdered in cold blood . This expression alludes to the notion that blood is the seat of emotion and is hot in passion and cold in calm. The term therefore means not “in the heat of passion,†but “in a calculated, deliberate manner.†[Late 1500s]Example Sentences
One bereaved father told the BBC that his son was killed "in cold blood".
"They killed innocent people in cold blood who had nothing to do with any of this."
But a further claim from Israel that Ariel and Kfir had been "murdered by terrorists in cold blood" will further inflame feelings in Israel.
The group described her "murder... in cold blood" as part of an "oppressive policy targeting the Jenin camp, which has become a symbol of steadfastness and resistance".
Corbet likens the moment to Albert Camus’ novel “The Stranger†when a character explains all the factors that went into the moment when he killed someone in cold blood.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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