Word.ws English Dictionary

cold in one's grave

cold in one's grave adjective: dead (usually used in a hyperbolic or metaphorical setting).

Adjective

cold in one's grave (not comparable)

  1. Dead (usually used in a hyperbolic or metaphorical setting).
    • I'll be cold in my grave before I call that man of yours a son-in-law of mine!
  2. Having died a reasonable length of time ago (usually used to suggest that an unseemly short amount of time for a particular purpose has passed since a person's death).
    • Eunice: We're going to choir practice.
      Audrey: Have a good time.
      Albert: Don't wait up.
      Audrey: Well, well, well.
      Jezanna: Can you believe that? My mother's not cold in her grave!
      Audrey: Sugar, it's been over two years.
      Jezanna: Choir practice? That... that Jezebel!2000, Alison Bechdel, Post-Dykes to Watch Out For, page 107

Questions about cold in one's grave

What does cold in one's grave mean?
Cold in one's grave means dead (usually used in a hyperbolic or metaphorical setting).
What part of speech is cold in one's grave?
Cold in one's grave is an adjective.

Words near cold in one's grave in the dictionary

  1. cold hands, warm heart
  2. Cold Harbor
  3. cold hard cash
  4. cold hardy
  5. Cold Hiendley
  6. cold in one's grave
  7. cold iron
  8. Cold Kirby
  9. Cold Lake
  10. cold launch
  11. cold launches

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cold in one's grave (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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Cite this entry: “cold in one's grave.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cold_in_one%27s_grave. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.