stop cold

Idioms  

1. Also,. Halt suddenly, come to a standstill, as in When a thread breaks, the machine just stops cold, or He was so surprised to see them in the audience that he stopped dead in the middle of his speech, or The deer saw the hunter and stopped in its tracks, or An excellent skateboarder, she could stop on a dime. The first term uses cold in the sense “suddenly and completely,” a usage dating from the late 1800s. The first variant was first recorded in 1789 and probably was derived from the slightly older, and still current, come to a dead stop, with the same meaning. The second variant uses in one's tracks in the sense of “on the spot” or “where one is at the moment”; it was first recorded in 1824. The third variant alludes to the dime or ten-cent piece, the smallest-size coin.

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Example Sentences

Whilst the Met Office says, "This generally reduces the chances of a white Christmas," it also recognises that, "The natural variability of the weather will not stop cold, snowy winters happening in the future".

From BBC • Dec. 12, 2025

According to medical literature and former patients, some programs, including CHOP, wean children off medications—including narcotics, antidepressants, steroids, and seizure medications—or encourage them to stop cold turkey.

From Slate • Sep. 15, 2025

The good news, however, is that there are several ways you can stop cold air from seeping into your home, many of which are easy and affordable to implement before winter arrives.

From Salon • Nov. 12, 2022

That won’t happen at “Showstoppers!,” but when you see this mannequin dressed in the Medusa costume from Heartbeat Opera’s “Dragus Maximus,” a queer take on the Homeric myths, you might stop cold.

From New York Times • Aug. 12, 2021

So Mary Alice was apt to stop cold on a sidewalk and run through a tap routine in her regular sandals.

From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck

Related Words

• abort
• break off
• curtail
• halt
• hinder
• interrupt
• postpone
• quit
• shorten
• terminate