chill
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /t͡ʃɪl/
note: Tanglish, colloquial
ipa: /d͡ʒil(lɯ)/
homophone: jill
Forms: form: chills
Etymology: From Middle English chele, chile, from Old English ċiele, ċele (“cold; coldness”), from Proto-West Germanic *kali, from Proto-Germanic *kaliz, from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to be cold”). Closely related with Dutch kil. Also akin to cool, cold, gel, and congeal, which see.
Senses: examples: text: There was a chill in the air.
text: Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
ref: 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
text: A breezy winter chill is likely for MLK Weekend across the Southeast. […] A steady northwest breeze will keep wind chills in the teens and single digits for the remainder of your weekend.
ref: 2021 January 16, Derek Van Dam, “Northeast will be wet and chilly while Southern California should sizzle during holiday weekend”, in CNN:
glosses: A moderate, but uncomfortable and penetrating coldness.
examples: text: Close the window or you'll catch a chill.
text: I felt a chill when the wind picked up.
glosses: A sudden penetrating sense of cold, especially one that causes a brief trembling nerve response through the body; the trembling response itself; often associated with illness: fevers and chills, or susceptibility to illness.
examples: text: Despite the heat, he felt a chill as he entered the crime scene.
text: The actor's eerie portrayal sent chills through the audience.
text: His menacing presence cast a chill over everyone.
glosses: An uncomfortable and numbing sense of fear, dread, anxiety, or alarm, often one that is sudden and usually accompanied by a trembling nerve response resembling the body's response to biting cold.
glosses: An iron mould or portion of a mould, serving to cool rapidly, and so to harden, the surface of molten iron brought in contact with it.
glosses: The hardened part of a casting, such as the tread of a carriage wheel.
examples: text: However, the chill between the two giants did not last long; every constituency except the Westernizers found virtue in warming up to China.
ref: 1998, Ilya Prizel, National Identity and Foreign Policy, →ISBN:
text: His eyes are cold, and the chill between us twists in the pit of my stomach.
ref: 2014, Tammara Webber, Between the Lines, →ISBN:
glosses: A lack of warmth and cordiality; unfriendliness.
examples: text: For those of us who relate to that furious paddling in some form (whether we choose to conceal it below the surface or not), we are probably also aware of what, besides the water, we are really clashing against: a culture of chill.
ref: 2017 October 12, Rebecca Okin, “Okin ’19: Chill culture isn’t cool”, in The Brown Daily Herald:
text: A heated, in-door pool flanked by sumptuous daybeds where dark-slated walls, fiber-optic mood lighting, underwater sound system, and soothing waterfall deliver serious chill.
ref: 2017 October 19, Stephanie Orma, “Why This Chic Milan Hotel Is the Ultimate Design Lover's Escape”, in Forbes:
text: From the very start of the interview, Lawrence's manic energy proved that she had absolutely no chill.
ref: 2017 November 3, Libby Hill, “Jennifer Lawrence gets weird in delightful interview with Kim Kardahian West”, in Los Angeles Times:
text: Granted, Tyrese put himself out there by even posting the video, knowing the internet has no chill.
ref: 2017 November 5, Tanay Hudson, “Tyrese’s Meltdown Is Not A Laughing Matter”, in Madame Noire:
glosses: Calmness; equanimity.
examples: text: Will and Grace still have no chill; having a pillow fight in the Oval Office proves that.
ref: 2017 November 1, Araceli Aviles, “Will & Grace Series (Re)Premiere Review: Same Characters, Different World”, in TV Overmind:
text: Angelina left Brad, which upsets me because I'm human," said Corden, adding that Netflix had chill, but the FBI had "zero chill."
ref: 2016 December 16, “James Corden Recaps 2016 With Comedy, Then Makes Somber Plea for Aleppo's Children”, in Hollywood Reporter:
text: “Las Vegas has glitz, but Palm Springs has chill,” Stone said.
ref: 2017 October 26, Brian Blueskye, “The Palm Springs City Council Candidate Interview: Robert Julian Stone”, in Coachella Valley Independent:
glosses: A sense of style; trendiness; savoir faire.
examples: text: It was a courageous move by these activists, still living in the chill of the Cold War, to face red-baiting for holding protests that turned Washington's charges against the Cuban Revolution back on the U.S. government.
ref: 2006 April 1, Leslie Feinberg, “Mid-1960s gay activists tarrget U.S. gov't”, in Workers World:
glosses: A chilling effect; an atmosphere of this.
Derived terms: bechill
chilblain
chill girl
chill hours
chillish
chillness
chill-out
chillproof
chillsome
chillstep
chillth
chillwave
chilly
cook-chill
dumb chill
no chill
psychill
take the chill off
wind chill
windchill
zero chill