Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a bottle (latterly can) of beer.

1910		B. Fisher Mutt & Jeff 6 Apr. [synd. cartoon] A salad, French peas, fried spuds and a tall cold one.
1918		J.E. Rendinell diary 16 July in One Man’s War (1928) 142: Tell Bill to save me a few cold ones.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 65: He put the Town so Dry that even a Stranger had some trouble in finding a Cold One lying on a piece of ice.
1933		J. Conroy Disinherited 220: Let’s go over to Adolf’s and lap up a few cold ones.
1963		‘Nino Culotta’ Gone Fishin’ 22: He won’ go crook if we put a cold one in his hand, will he?
1973		D. Ponicsan Cinderella Liberty 101: It’s five o’clock Friday. I’m goin’ to have a few cold ones.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 185: You wouldn’t catch me on a golf course without a six pack of cold ones.
1991		B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 141: When it’s all over there will be several tall cold ones aimed right for the gullet.
1994		Eble Campus Sl. Apr. 2: cold pup – beer.
1999		Bug (Aus.) 29 June 🌐 We were celebrating the drafting of the sub-culture’s practices over a cold one at our local tittie bar.
2008		T. Dorsey Atomic Lobster 116: Coleman poured another cold one into his funnel.
2013		K. Shea ‘Having Chiqui’ in ThugLit July-Aug. [ebook] ‘Offer you a cold one [...] Got me a whole other sixer in the fridge’.
2016		N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] Other than a meat pie, a cold one and the touch of a fine woman, there’s nothing better than a good massage.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 31: ‘I go to work, then I go back to my trailer. In between I kill a few cold ones’.

2. a cold drink.

1953

R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 186: But I mixed a tall cold one this time and sat in an easy-chair.

3. a corpse.

1985

T. Wolff ‘Desert Breakdown, 1968’ in Back in the World 142: Finally a car stopped. It was a hearse [...] ‘Welcome to the stiffmobile,’ said the man [...] Bet you thought you’d be riding with a cold one’.