a cooling card
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
An obsolete expression for something that cools one's ardour, probably derived from some old game of cards. It is quite common in Elizabethan literature.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “a cooling card” mean?
An obsolete expression for something that cools one's ardour, probably derived from some old game of cards. It is quite common in Elizabethan literature.
Is “a cooling card” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.