cold-drawn oil
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Oil that is extracted or expressed without the use of heat. To have cold feet is to be timorous or cowardly. An expression originating in the U.S.A. in the 1890s.
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 “cold-drawn oil” mean?
Oil that is extracted or expressed without the use of heat. To have cold feet is to be timorous or cowardly. An expression originating in the U.S.A. in the 1890s.
Is “cold-drawn oil” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.