First recorded in 1930–35
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The one-room Method Gallery continues its practice of hosting cutting-edge installations with Seattle’s first solo show of work by Morgan Peterson, a glassblower, cold-work and mixed-media artist.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 5, 2021
It was a great place for cold-work labs, but not worth anything for colonization.
From Unwise Child by Garrett, Randall
"If you drove a cold work van all day, going from job to job, you'd understand," he said.
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2025
It was wet, cold work; it could even be dangerous.
From "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau
Gosh all humlock, but it was cold work gettin' them suckers ready.
From Chiquita, an American Novel The Romance of a Ute Chief's Daughter by Tileston, Merrill
It's cold work sleeping in the open on an empty stomach, but we must just cheer each other with Tone's byword— "''Tis but in vain For soldiers to complain.'"
From The Northern Iron by Birmingham, George A.
Fastening all the frozen ropes was very cold work.
From In the Forbidden Land by Landor, Arnold Henry Savage
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
