come in from the cold

Idioms  

1. Also, come in out of the cold. Return to shelter and safety, be welcomed into a group. For example, Bill was fed up with traveling on his own for the company and hoped they'd let him come in from the cold, or After years of not being invited to join, Steve was finally asked to come in out of the cold. This phrase, generally used figuratively, gained currency in the 1960s with John LeCarré's best-selling spy novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, about a long-time British spy in the cold war who longed to abandon the dirty tricks of his profession. Also see come in out of the rain.

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Example Sentences

Is that what spies do when they come in from the cold?

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025

Yokoi was not the last of the emperor’s soldiers to come in from the cold.

From Slate • Jan. 31, 2022

THE BIG IDEA: The spooks have come in from the cold, and they’re running for Congress.

From Washington Post • Oct. 18, 2017

I might as well say it: to read this simmering novel is to come in from the cold.

From New York Times • Aug. 28, 2017

It looked safe, a place to come in from the cold.

From "The Honest Truth" by Dan Gemeinhart