pour cold water on

Idioms  

1. Also, throw cold water on. Discourage or deter, as in Cutting my year-end bonus poured cold water on my loyalty to the company, or Hearing about the outbreak of cholera threw cold water on our plans to visit Bolivia. This term, with its image of putting out a fire with water, at one time meant “defame” or “slander”; the modern meaning dates from about 1800.

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Example Sentences

Another reason the government can’t pour cold water on home prices is the potential consequences for the wider economy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 20, 2026

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

Still, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries tried pour cold water on that idea in a Sunday interview with NBC News.

From Seattle Times • May 8, 2023

This is not to pour cold water on England's aspirations this summer.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2021

It was in vain that Valkendorf, now alarmed by his indiscretion, began to pour cold water on the flames he had lit.

From Love affairs of the Courts of Europe by Hall, Thornton