cold snap
- a sudden onset of a relatively brief period of cold weather.
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Origin of cold snap
An Americanism dating back to 1770–80
Also called cold spell.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cold snap
Historical Examples
One could not tell how long the cold-snap would last, but it had already embarrassed him.
The Girl From Keller'sHarold Bindloss
An early spring cold-snap was on, and the wildness of the scene was painted in a temperature of thirty below zero.
Smoke BellewJack London
cold snap
- a sudden short spell of cold weather
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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
Idioms and Phrases with cold snap
cold snap
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]
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.