cold snap

American  

noun

1. a sudden onset of a relatively brief period of cold weather.

---

cold snap British  

noun

1. a sudden short spell of cold weather

---

cold snap Idioms  

1. Also, cold spell. A short period of unusually cold weather, as in The recent cold snap has threatened the crop. The first expression presumably likens snap in the sense of “a sudden bite or cut” to sudden unexpected cold. The variant is more obvious, spell having been used in the sense of “a bout or turn at something” since the early 1700s. [Early 1800s]

---

Etymology

Origin of cold snap

An Americanism dating back to 1770–80

Example Sentences

Cold snap on, an' Dave slides into me shack to pass the time o' day, and glues his eyes on me case iv condensed milk.

From A Daughter of the Snows by London, Jack

Related Words

• cold spell
• cold wave
• cold weather