one's blood runs cold
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.14 in modern English
23
Scrabble Score
17
Letters
4
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
phrase
One feels a physical shock upon realizing a direct threat to one's life, similar to the loss of blood in the brain. It affects the entire body for a few minutes, but does not cause the person to lose consciousness.
phrase
One experiences a visceral feeling of fear, horror, dread, foreboding, or dysphoria (sometimes with accompanying tingling paresthesias).
Example Sentences
- "Little Oliver's blood ran cold, as he listened to the Jew's words, and imperfectly comprehended the dark threats conveyed in them."
- "[M]y blood ran cold and my heart turned to water, for there, before the cave, rolled wolves, many and great."
- "Her blood ran cold, and her heart seemed pressed in an iron vice."
- "His "blood runs cold" imagining the wrath of Weinstein."
- "Here, he read of dreadful crimes that made the blood run cold."
- ""Why, it mikes yer blood run cold: they 'ang a man on the stige; oh, it mide me creep all over!""