Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) to calm down, to deal with a problem in a controlled manner, to resist confrontation.

1778		F. Burney Evelina (1861) 101: What a’n’t you got out of that passion yet? why then, I’ll tell you what to do to cool yourself; call up your old friend, Monseer Slippery.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 23 Aug. 14/3: ‘Look here, mister, it’s like this; Blank’s my member; I can’t find Blank. Put me on to Blank, an’ I’ll give yer arfer quid.’ They put him away to cool, and Blank came out of the keg he had been hiding in.
1948		C. Day Lewis Otterbury Incident 140: And just so that you can cool your silly little heads for a bit, I’m going to lock the door at the bottom of the stairs when I go out.
1959		W. Burroughs Naked Lunch (1968) 27: That’s a rumble nobody can cool.
1964		R. Abrahams Deep Down In The Jungle 264: Cooling – Doing a cool thing [...] performing in complete control of oneself in the midst of a potentially explosive situation.
1988		Ice-T ‘Heartbeat’ 🎵 But I’m coolin’, I’m never foolin’, too busy rulin’.
1997		C. Newland Scholar 112: Sean shushed him, telling him to relax and cool.

2. to knock out.

1944		E. Wilson 20 May [synd. col.] ‘Did you win?’ [...] ‘Daddy, Ah cooled her’.
1960		C. Cooper Jr Syndicate (1998) 72: Whoever called the cops thought I’d still be cooled there in the house.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 157: He didn’t jump me. I cooled him first.

3. to calm someone or some situation down.

1953		L. Durst Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 3: He can solid cool you and school you with some frantic issues.
1960		‘Lord Buckley’ Hiparama of the Classics 8: So, they cooled The All Hip Mahatma, they cooled the chicks [...] and they stashed the spinnin’ wheels.
1971		R.D. Pharr S.R.O. (1998) 153: That cooled me right there, and I subsided into a trembling calm .
1972		D. Pendleton Boston Blitz (1974) 130: The old men want this area cooled.
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 184: Now I gotta go out there and cool all those motherfuckin’ junkies out there ’cause I ain’t got a bag to my name.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 119: He [...] usually goes in and gets the piece, you know, and he walks out with it and shit; that cools any moves anybody’s got, out.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 393: He appointed a committee of convicts to ‘cool’ the situation.

4. (US campus) to turn down a request for a date.

1967–8

Baker et al. CUSS 99: Cooled Turned down when asking for a date.

5. (US Und.) of stolen goods, to remain hidden until police activity quietens.

1967

M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 237: [They] couldn’t find any way they could trust him or each other not to rob the stash while it was cooling.

6. to render relaxed, happy.

1969

J. Crumley One to Count Cadence (1987) 187: Hey, man, you cats cooling my chick for me?

7. (US) to postpone, to put off, to stop.

1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
1962		P. Crump Burn, Killer, Burn! 97: Cool that action.
1971		M. Novotny Kings Road 211: Get over here fast, and cool that shit talk!

8. (US) of a criminal charge or disciplinary problem, to quash.

1966		(con. 1958) R. Farina Been Down So Long (1972) 43: Distract the cat, cool the five bucks [fine].
1986		J. Ellroy Silent Terror 68: I was the one who got your sex beef cooled.

9. (US black/teen) to lounge around, to ‘hang out’.

1987		Ice-T ‘Six in the Morning’ 🎵 Seen my homeboys coolin’ way out told ’em bout my mornin’.
1988		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 3: cool – relax [...] After class my friends are always coolin’ in front of the library.
1997		C. Newland Scholar 207: I know you’re in a crew but boy can’t you ju’ cool at someone’s house?
2000		P. Beatty Tuff 223: ‘What up, kid?’ ‘Coolin’.’.

10. to saunter.

1980		J.L. Gwaltney Drylongso 17: If you cool in here with [...] a yam puddin’, what the hell am I supposed to say?
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 215: Flippin a cane to the beat as you cool down 125th street.

11. see cool it v. (5)