Word: chill Part of Speech: noun 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. Pronunciation: /tʃɪl/, /tʃəl/, /dʒɪl(lɯ)/ 1. A moderate, but uncomfortable and penetrating coldness. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: There was a chill in the air. Example: 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. 2. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Close the window or you'll catch a chill. Example: I felt a chill when the wind picked up. 3. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Despite the heat, he felt a chill as he entered the crime scene. Example: The actor's eerie portrayal sent chills through the audience. 4. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable 5. The hardened part of a casting, such as the tread of a carriage wheel. Labels: countable, uncountable 6. A lack of warmth and cordiality; unfriendliness. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: However, the chill between the two giants did not last long; every constituency except the Westernizers found virtue in warming up to China. Example: His eyes are cold, and the chill between us twists in the pit of my stomach. 7. Calmness; equanimity. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. Example: 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. 8. A sense of style; trendiness; savoir faire. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Will and Grace still have no chill; having a pillow fight in the Oval Office proves that. Example: Angelina left Brad, which upsets me because I'm human," said Corden, adding that Netflix had chill, but the FBI had "zero chill." 9. A chilling effect; an atmosphere of this. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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.