Library / English Dictionary

CHILL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Coldness due to a cold environment

Synonyms:

chill; gelidity; iciness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("chill" is a kind of...):

cold; coldness; frigidity; frigidness; low temperature (the absence of heat)

Derivation:

chill (loose heat)

chill (make cool or cooler)

chilly (appreciably or disagreeably cold)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An almost pleasurable sensation of fright

Example:

a frisson of surprise shot through him

Synonyms:

chill; frisson; quiver; shiver; shudder; thrill; tingle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("chill" is a kind of...):

fear; fearfulness; fright (an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A sudden numbing dread

Synonyms:

chill; pall

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("chill" is a kind of...):

apprehension; apprehensiveness; dread (fearful expectation or anticipation)

Derivation:

chill (depress or discourage)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A sensation of cold that often marks the start of an infection and the development of a fever

Synonyms:

chill; shivering

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("chill" is a kind of...):

symptom ((medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Loose heat

Example:

The air cooled considerably after the thunderstorm

Synonyms:

chill; cool; cool down

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "chill" is one way to...):

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

The water chills

Derivation:

chill (coldness due to a cold environment)

chilling (the process of becoming cooler; a falling temperature)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make cool or cooler

Example:

Chill the food

Synonyms:

chill; cool; cool down

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "chill" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Cause:

chill; cool; cool down (loose heat)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "chill"):

quench (cool (hot metal) by plunging into cold water or other liquid)

ice (put ice on or put on ice)

refrigerate (cool or chill in or as if in a refrigerator)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They chill the water

Derivation:

chill (coldness due to a cold environment)

chilling (the process of becoming cooler; a falling temperature)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Depress or discourage

Example:

The news of the city's surrender chilled the soldiers

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "chill" is one way to...):

cast down; deject; demoralise; demoralize; depress; dismay; dispirit; get down (lower someone's spirits; make downhearted)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The bad news will chill him

Derivation:

chill (a sudden numbing dread)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A chill of fear had come over me, as I thought that his absence might mean that some blow had fallen during the night.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You've already slightly chilled your lungs. Besides, he is a physician and knows. He would never permit it.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not think that any burglar could have done.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Symptoms of gastroenteritis include diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, headache, fever and chills.

(Gastroenteritis, NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

Symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.

(H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

It was still quite early, and the coldest morning that I think I ever was abroad in—a chill that pierced into the marrow.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The sky became clouded, but the air was pure, although chilled by the northeast breeze that was then rising.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

In septicemic plague, bacteria multiply in the blood. It causes fever, chills, shock, and bleeding under the skin or other organs.

(Plague, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

Patients usually present with abdominal pain and tenderness, fever, chills, and nausea and vomiting.

(Peritonitis, NCI Thesaurus)

The telling of this grim story had cast a chill upon all of us.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)