cold feet

See synonyms for cold feet on Thesaurus.com
nounInformal.
  1. a loss or lack of courage or confidence; an onset of uncertainty or fear: She got cold feet when asked to sing a solo.

Origin of cold feet

1
First recorded in 1890–95

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cold feet in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for cold feet

cold feet

pl n
  1. informal loss or lack of courage or confidence

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for cold feet

cold feet

To “have cold feet” is to be too fearful to undertake or complete an action: “The backup quarterback was called into the game, but he got cold feet and refused to go in.”

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.