cool off

1. see cool down .

2. 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.”

3. 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

Before the raids, Isabel’s family would cool off at a nearby stream, go to air-conditioned shops or grab a raspado, or shaved ice.

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"I'm only going out for a swim in the lake in the forest after 18:00, when the weather has started to cool off," he says.

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Hitler believed the German people must never be allowed to “cool off”; on the contrary, they had to be subjected to a perpetual drumbeat.

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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.

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I had to pause it a couple of times to give myself a few moments to cool off.

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Related Words

• constrain 
• contain 
• control 
• hamper 
• hinder 
• impede 
• inhibit 
• restrain 
• suppress 
• tame