cool, n.² — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

cool n.²

also coolness

1. temper, poise, composure, attitude to life and ability to deal with it.

1897		Kipling ‘Slaves of the Lamp — Part I’ in Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 58: ‘Well, that’s pretty average cool,’ said Abanazar.
1900		Marvel 8 Dec. 28: Not for a moment did the old trapper lose his head, but, with consumate coolness, he continued to fire.
1910		Magnet 27 Aug. 8: My dear chap, your coolness is too good.
1968		N. Heard Howard Street 156: Pinball, his cool completely gone, said, ‘What the hell are we waitin’ for, man?’.
1975		L. Rosten Dear ‘Herm’ 92: Love is a dangerous disease [...] marked by high fevers, far-out illusions, bad English, and a complete paralysis of cool.
1980		M. Thelwell Harder They Come 204: Every day dem more desperate too — no have no cool an’ no style neider.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 8: Identifying with his understated street cool.
2010		K. Richards Life 68: The height of existentialist cool and pretentiousness.
2022		I. Fitzgerald Dirtbag, Massachusetts 211: [C]ool changes fast and it changes hard.

2. (US teen) a temporary armistice between opposing street gangs.

1959		H. Salisbury Shook-Up Generation (1961) 20: The street and commercial establishments fronting the boundary are no man’s land – safe enough during a ‘cool’.
1960		E. De Roo Big Rumble 29: ‘There’s a cool on. Isn’t there? An armistice?’ ‘How long you figure this cool between the Scratchers and the Spiders is gonna last?’.

3. (orig. US black) sophistication, the prevailing fashion.

1969		N. Cohn Awopbop. (1970) 108: I’ll even be able to adopt slouching Brando cool.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 27: They set the standard for hip and cool.
2000		Observer Rev. 9 Jan. 10: Splitting up and dying are the only ways to ensure everlasting coolness.

4. (US campus) a fashionable, drug-taking (or whatever is deemed relevant) young person, as opposed to a straight, conventional person.

1975		J. Carr Bad (1995) 64: ‘Look here, cool,’ he says to me.
1979		H. Feldman et al. Angel Dust 77: To be ‘cool’ (that is acceptable) among both cools and rowdies, you must be willing to ‘get high’.

5. (US) constr. with the, the epitome of excellence.

2016

The Cut (NY Times Mag.) Mar. 🌐 The Cool (or in Chloe’s words, The Dope, The Awesome, The Lit, The Legit).

blow one’s cool (v.)

1. to lose control, to become nervous or angry.

1965		H. Rhodes Chosen Few (1966) 182: He blew his cool, called me some off th’ wall names and finally told me what page he was on.
1972		G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 164: What the fuck’s the matter with you guys down there, you blow your cool permanently.
1982		S. King Running Man in Bachman Books (1995) 573: I’m gettin senile, Bennie, Blowin my cool.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 87: Her cool’s blown.
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 44: Steve blew his cool, started screaming at the guy over the phone.
2002		R.G. Barrett Mystery Bay Blues 121: Hang on a moment, Morgan [...] You’re blowing your cool.

2. to ruin one’s image, to discomfit oneself, to make an exhibition of oneself.

1964		Larner & Tefferteller Addict in the Street (1966) 68: Now if I blew my cool – if I got up and said I was going and they knew what was happening – they couldn’t stop me.
1970		R.D. Abrahams Positively Black 92: [T]he cat must decide that style or ‘flash’ is best served through [...] convenient brutality. This means that he must be prepared, when he knows another is vulnerable, to become violent even though this may temporarily ‘blow his cool,’ the style on which he most commonly relies.
1999		Guardian G2 11 Aug. 14: Mack has [...] bolstered his bid for wider acceptance, but blown much of his cool.
2000		Indep. Rev. 19 May 14: It seems that Mos Def and his crew (of one) have blown their cool.

blow someone’s cool (v.)

to inform upon.

1970

G. Scott-Heron Vulture (1996) 79: A young cat will blow your cool when the Man applies the heat.

hold one’s cool (v.)

(US) to keep calm; to relax.

1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 15: You jus’ hold yore cool [...] They got an assload a time out in that cou’troom — all’s you got to do is back up and get it.
2002		(con. early 1920s) R. Uzzel Blind Lemon Jefferson 29: When people in the audience would request certain songs, he would say, ‘Just wait a while. Hold your cool’.

keep one’s cool (v.)

(orig. US) to remain calm, despite circumstances to the contrary.

1965		H. Rhodes Chosen Few (1966) 35: ’Tis merely that thing by which all of us either keep or lose our cool.
1968		Times 9 Nov. 19: I managed to keep my cool, however, and told him I wouldn’t sign an exclusive contract with anyone.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 32: She kept her cool, since Harvey and his hangups were no longer her problem.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 171: Keeping his cool, Harry straightened his hat, threw away his cigar and ambled over.
1999		C. Dexter Remorseful Day (2000) 228: I think he kept his cool.
2000		F. Mac Anna Cartoon City 59: Once a woman felt relaxed, then she would get down to it. It was all a matter of keeping his cool.
2022		S. Weinman Scoundrel 47: [S]he remembered being scared and upset on the stand, but she kept her cool, did not cry.

lose one’s cool (v.)

(orig. US) to lose one’s dignity or self-possession, to lose one’s temper.

a.1953		‘Death Row’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 119: Dig yourself, creep, don’t lose your cool.
1965		H. Rhodes Chosen Few (1966) 180: He’s after your ass and if he can gitcha t’lose your cool, that’s it.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 56: The Dick lost his cool at something big dumb Rocko had done.
1989		Beano Special No. 13 n.p.: Oh-oh! Gran’s lost her cool.
1994		T. Willocks Green River Rising 222: Klein was just an asshole losing his cool.
2000		Observer 6 Feb. 16: Faith, very much losing his cool: ‘Are you going to be serious? Let’s be serious, please’.
2011		Observer Mag. 1 May. 28/2: Before the last egneerral election he often lost his cool swhen the media focused on the tax affairs of Tory donor Lord Ashcroft.
2023		S. Ayad When Kids Say They’re Trans 152: When someone is lashing out at us, [...] [w]e forget not to take things personally. We lose our cool.

put the cool on (v.)