Idiom
cold shoulder
Meaning
A deliberate act of disrespect; a slight or snub.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He gave me the cold shoulder at the party.”
“My cat gives me the cold shoulder whenever I come home late.”
“I tried to apologize for the argument, but she gave me the cold shoulder all day.”
“When I asked my neighbor about the loud music last night, he just gave me the cold shoulder and walked away without saying a word.”
“Despite his attempts to reconcile after their public disagreement, his former colleague continued to offer him the cold shoulder throughout the entire conference.”
Examples
simple
“He gave me the cold shoulder at the party.”
“My cat gives me the cold shoulder whenever I come home late.”
contextual
“I tried to apologize for the argument, but she gave me the cold shoulder all day.”
“When I asked my neighbor about the loud music last night, he just gave me the cold shoulder and walked away without saying a word.”
complex
“Despite his attempts to reconcile after their public disagreement, his former colleague continued to offer him the cold shoulder throughout the entire conference.”
Origin
The phrase is possibly a coinage of Sir Walter Scott, first appearing in his 1816 work *The Antiquary*. A popular but unproven story suggests the idiom derives from the custom of serving a guest a cold shoulder of mutton as a polite signal that their welcome had expired and no more hot food would be forthcoming. While the culinary slight provides a tidy explanation for the social one, the connection remains speculative, leaving the expression as a likely literary invention from 1816 that gained traction regardless of its disputed origins in the kitchen.
Key words
Related idioms
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