pour cold water on
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Discourage.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Presently he felt bound to pour some cold water on all this optimism.
Kenneth Clarke, the education secretary, poured cold water on the recommendations of a working party set up by his department to look at physical education.
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: Euphemism (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “pour cold water on” mean?
Discourage.
Is “pour cold water on” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.