Word.ws English Dictionary

cold as charity

cold as charity adjective: very cold, whether in temperature or in demeanour.

Adjective

cold as charity (not comparable)

  1. (humorous, rare, simile) Very cold, whether in temperature or in demeanour.
    • "Here's another funny thing I don't quite believe," he said; "a minute ago the tea was boiling hot, and now it's as cold as charity. But I mustn't forget it's winter; that's what's making my fingers tremble so. Jolly cold — jolly cold. Yes, jolly cold as charity sounds topsy-turvy."1883, Tinsley's magazine, conducted by E. Yates, volume 33, page 28

Origin of cold as charity

An ironic reference to the cold-hearted nature of much so-called charity, which should naturally be warm.

Questions about cold as charity

What does cold as charity mean?
Cold as charity means very cold, whether in temperature or in demeanour.
What part of speech is cold as charity?
Cold as charity is an adjective.

Words near cold as charity in the dictionary

  1. cold as a witch's kiss
  2. cold as a witch's teat
  3. cold as a witch's tit
  4. cold as a witch's tit in a brass bra
  5. cold as balls
  6. cold as charity
  7. cold as death
  8. cold as ice
  9. Cold Ash
  10. Cold Ashton
  11. cold avoidant

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cold as charity (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-cold as charity.ogg.

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