cool off
Idioms-
see cool down .
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Also, . Calm down, become less ardent, angry, or agitated, as in We can't discuss it until you've cooled off . The verb cool alone has been used in this sense since approximately a.d. 1000; off and down were added in the late 1800s, and Davy Crockett's Almanac (1836) had: “Resting a while, just long enough to cool out a little.”
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Also, cool out . Kill someone, as in They threatened to cool off his brother . [ Slang ; first half of 1800s] Also see cool out , def. 2.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The RBA has already acted to cool off inflation with interest rate increases in February and March, saying it will do what is needed to get it lower.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026
Crews have since been working to cool off hotspots.
From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026
"I view today's decline as a correction to cool off an overheated market -- a phase of adjustment," Chung Hae-chang, analyst at Daishin Securities, told AFP.
From Barron's • Nov. 5, 2025
I also always bring a bandanna to help evade the dust and I will pour cold water on it on a hot day and wrap it around my neck to cool off.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2025
“They get cold so fast, don’t they, chips. One minute, you’re burning your mouth on them, the next you’re wondering how they cool off so quickly.”
From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman
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.
