in cold blood
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Ruthlessly.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
But the temptations of the Flesh were different: they could not be dealt with in cold blood.
He tried to keep his voice firm, but the thought of actually having to kill the man in cold blood numbed him.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “in cold blood” mean?
Ruthlessly.
Is “in cold blood” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.