cold snap

See more synonyms for cold snap on Thesaurus.com

noun

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

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for cold snap

Historical Examples of cold snap

One could not tell how long the cold-snap would last, but it had already embarrassed him.
The Girl From Keller's
Harold Bindloss
An early spring cold-snap was on, and the wildness of the scene was painted in a temperature of thirty below zero.
Smoke Bellew
Jack London

British Dictionary definitions for cold snap

cold snap

noun

a sudden short spell of cold weather

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]