Literary notes about cold (AI summary)
In literature, "cold" functions as a multifaceted descriptor that evokes both physical sensations and emotional states. On one hand, it conveys a tangible chill—whether in the measured calm of cold infusions left overnight [1] or the biting impact of a cutting cold wind [2]—and often sets a stark, wintry atmosphere [3][4]. On the other hand, it also symbolizes emotional detachment or merciless behavior, as in characters described as cold-hearted or acting in cold blood [5][6]. This dual usage allows writers to mirror the harshness of nature with the cruelty or indifference sometimes found in human behavior, enriching narratives with layers of sensory and symbolic meaning [7][8][9].
- Cold infusions were common, the practise being to let them stand overnight, to be filtered in the morning, and only heated, not boiled.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - A cutting cold wind was blowing straight in his face.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - The wind blew bitterly cold, and the boughs of the old tree crackled under falling sleet.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs - He was cold, it was early in November, and the snow was falling in big wet flakes, melting as soon as it touched the earth.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - He would swear it now, if thereby he could touch her—but nobody could touch her, she was cold-hearted!
— from The Forsyte Saga, Volume I. by John Galsworthy - And so they have gone scarce cold to the grave.
— from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe - Her face had the cold, business-like expression of one who had come to discuss a business matter.
— from The Bet, and other stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Soon afterward I saw that Julien was giving me the 'cold shoulder,' as they say.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant
