cool v.2
1. (orig. US) to calm down, to deal with a problem in a controlled manner, to resist confrontation.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | 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. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | 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. | |
| 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. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Naked Lunch (1968) 27: That’s a rumble nobody can cool. | |
| 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. | |
| ‘Heartbeat’ 🎵 But I’m coolin’, I’m never foolin’, too busy rulin’. | |
| Scholar 112: Sean shushed him, telling him to relax and cool. |
2. to knock out.
| 20 May [synd. col.] ‘Did you win?’ [...] ‘Daddy, Ah cooled her’. | |
| Syndicate (1998) 72: Whoever called the cops thought I’d still be cooled there in the house. | |
| Down These Mean Streets (1970) 157: He didn’t jump me. I cooled him first. |
3. to calm someone or some situation down.
| Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 3: He can solid cool you and school you with some frantic issues. | |
| Hiparama of the Classics 8: So, they cooled The All Hip Mahatma, they cooled the chicks [...] and they stashed the spinnin’ wheels. | |
| S.R.O. (1998) 153: That cooled me right there, and I subsided into a trembling calm . | |
| Boston Blitz (1974) 130: The old men want this area cooled. | |
| 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. | |
| (con. 1982–6) 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. | |
| Mr Blue 393: He appointed a committee of convicts to ‘cool’ the situation. |
4. (US campus) to turn down a request for a date.
| 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.
| 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.
| One to Count Cadence (1987) 187: Hey, man, you cats cooling my chick for me? |
7. (US) to postpone, to put off, to stop.
| , | | DAS. |
| Burn, Killer, Burn! 97: Cool that action. | |
| Kings Road 211: Get over here fast, and cool that shit talk! |
8. (US) of a criminal charge or disciplinary problem, to quash.
| (con. 1958) Been Down So Long (1972) 43: Distract the cat, cool the five bucks [fine]. | |
| Silent Terror 68: I was the one who got your sex beef cooled. |
9. (US black/teen) to lounge around, to ‘hang out’.
| ‘Six in the Morning’ 🎵 Seen my homeboys coolin’ way out told ’em bout my mornin’. | |
| Campus Sl. Oct. 3: cool – relax [...] After class my friends are always coolin’ in front of the library. | |
| Scholar 207: I know you’re in a crew but boy can’t you ju’ cool at someone’s house? | |
| Tuff 223: ‘What up, kid?’ ‘Coolin’.’. |
10. to saunter.
| Drylongso 17: If you cool in here with [...] a yam puddin’, what the hell am I supposed to say? | |
| Portable Promised Land (ms.) 215: Flippin a cane to the beat as you cool down 125th street. |
11. see cool it v. (5)
In phrases
(US teen) to inform.
| Gidget Goes Hawaiian 3: ‘Cool me in, young lady,’ he said quite sarcastically. ‘Cool me in.’ I hate it when he uses the lingo. |
see separate entry.
see separate entries.
see separate entries.
see under beef n.2
SE in slang uses
In phrases
(US) to knock unconscious.
| Und. Speaks. | |
| PADS 14 21: Coolcock [...] To knock out, knock cold, with a connotation of knocking with a blunt instrument on the side or back of the head. |
(US black) to knock unconscious.
 | Invisble Man 422: Pull your switchblade! [...] Coolcrack the motherfouler! |
1. to take a drink to ease the parched throat caused by excessive drinking.
| Sam Slick in England II 195: I want an ice cream to cool my coppers, shockin’ bad. | |
| Gay Girls of N.Y. 63: Oh, isn’t it nice / To mix brandy with ice, / And to cool off our coppers with grog! | |
| Tom Brown at Oxford (1880) 24: A fellow can’t enjoy his breakfast after that without something to cool his coppers. | |
| Sportsman 17 Dec. ‘A Chapel Meeting’ 3/3: [H]is chum, who, at the trough in the furthest corner of the room, was ‘cooling his coppers’ with cold water . | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Apr. 18/4: The publican fired great guns, loaded with red-hot expletives, after the godly man, and, having cooled his coppers with a quart of XXXXX, he hied him forth to consult his lawyer on the rights of the case. | |
| Shellback 224: Having complied with our considerate commander’s request to cool our coppers, we made a bow and got on deck. | |
| Eve. Bulletin (Honolulu, HI) 9 Nov. 8/3: He was released at 7 o’clock [and] made tracks for the nearest wet goods emporium and proceeded to cool his overheated coppers by long libations. |
2. to stay in a place.
| Bell’s Life in Sydney 2 Mar. 3/3: [He] did not ‘feel justified’ in adopting any other course but that of sending the ‘copper’ to cool her coppers at Darlinghurst. | |
| True Northerner (Paw Paw, MI) 9 Nov. 5/3: Harry Joseph was up, charged with being a clear case of chronic drunk. [...] and will cool his coppers [...] for ten days. |
3. (US) in fig use of sense 1, to calm down.
| Mexico Missouri Message (MO) 18 Jan. 3/1: Didn’t Mister Rogers go to Europe to let his coppers cool off. Didin’t Rockyfeller’s kid go acrost too . |
(orig. US) to calm down, to relax.
| Campus Sl. (Nov.) 1: Cool your jets – settle down and relax. | |
| It (1987) 952: ‘Okay, okay,’ the clerk said. ‘Cool your jets, my friend.’. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Filth 284: God Bruce! Cool yir jets man! We’re tryin tae git some sleep. | |
| Be My Enemy 122: Cool the jets, man [...] If there’s a problem, talk tae me. | |
| (con. 1973) Johnny Porno 207: Maybe you wanna calm your jets [...] You’re the new kid on the block. | |
| Pigeon English 19: Alright, son, cool your boots. I was only asking. | |
| (con. 1980s) Skagboys 336: Cunt’ll jist huv tae cool his fuckin jets fir a bit. | |
| Whiplash River [ebook] ‘Cool your jets [...] Sometimes you have to cut to the chase’. | |
| Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 262: ‘Cool your jets, Carlotta!’. |
(US black/gang) to calm down.
| ‘Some Get Wasted’ in Clarke Harlem, USA (1971) 351: All right, my man, but cool your role, you dig? | |
| S.R.O. (1998) 29: ‘That’s another one of your goddam lies,’ Joey yelled. ‘Cool your role, hon,’ Jinny said. |