blow hot and cold

Cultural  

1. To change one's mind constantly about the value of something: “The administration should stop issuing such contradictory statements on taxes; they are alienating the voters by blowing hot and cold on tax reform.”

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blow hot and cold Idioms  

1. Change one's mind, vacillate, as in Jean's been blowing hot and cold about taking a winter vacation. This expression comes from Aesop's fable (c. 570 b.c.) about a man eating with a satyr on a winter day. At first the man blew on his hands to warm them and then blew on his soup to cool it. The satyr thereupon renounced the man's friendship because he blew hot and cold out of the same mouth. The expression was repeated by many writers, most often signifying a person who could not be relied on. William Chillingworth put it: “These men can blow hot and cold out of the same mouth to serve several purposes” (The Religion of Protestants, 1638).

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Example Sentences

Starmer promised Monday that his country's China policy would no longer blow "hot and cold".

From Barron's • Dec. 2, 2025

There are some who rate series not only from season to season but episode to episode, as a sports fan might blow hot and cold on a team from play to play.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 1, 2023

Americans blow hot and cold on global health.

From New York Times • Dec. 19, 2016

But he tended to blow hot and cold in his relations with most leaders – Gaddafi is seen here holding hands with Soviet Union ruler Leonid Brezhnev in 1981.

From BBC • Jun. 18, 2012

How can I make a calculation if you blow hot and cold?

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 13 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis