chill

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɪl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪl

Noun

chill (countable and uncountable, plural chills)

1. A moderate, but uncomfortable and penetrating coldness.

   There was a chill in the air.

   • 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:

     Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.

2. A sudden penetrating sense of cold, especially one that causes a brief trembling nerve response through the body; the trembling response itself; often associated with illness: fevers and chills, or susceptibility to illness.

   Close the window or you'll catch a chill.

   I felt a chill when the wind picked up.

3. An uncomfortable and numbing sense of fear, dread, anxiety, or alarm, often one that is sudden and usually accompanied by a trembling nerve response resembling the body's response to biting cold.

   Despite the heat, he felt a chill as he entered the crime scene.

   The actor's eerie portrayal sent chills through the audience.

   His menacing presence cast a chill over everyone.

4. An iron mould or portion of a mould, serving to cool rapidly, and so to harden, the surface of molten iron brought in contact with it.^[1]
5. The hardened part of a casting, such as the tread of a carriage wheel.^[2]
6. A lack of warmth and cordiality; unfriendliness.
   • 1998, Ilya Prizel, National Identity and Foreign Policy, →ISBN:

     However, the chill between the two giants did not last long; every constituency except the Westernizers found virtue in warming up to China.

   • 2014, Tammara Webber, Between the Lines, →ISBN:

     His eyes are cold, and the chill between us twists in the pit of my stomach.

7. Calmness; equanimity.
   • 2017 October 12, Rebecca Okin, “Okin ’19: Chill culture isn’t cool”, in The Brown Daily Herald:

     For those of us who relate to that furious paddling in some form (whether we choose to conceal it below the surface or not), we are probably also aware of what, besides the water, we are really clashing against: a culture of chill.

   • 2017 October 19, Stephanie Orma, “Why This Chic Milan Hotel Is the Ultimate Design Lover's Escape”, in Forbes:

     A heated, in-door pool flanked by sumptuous daybeds where dark-slated walls, fiber-optic mood lighting, underwater sound system, and soothing waterfall deliver serious chill.

   • 2017 November 3, Libby Hill, “Jennifer Lawrence gets weird in delightful interview with Kim Kardahian West”, in Los Angeles Times:

     From the very start of the interview, Lawrence's manic energy proved that she had absolutely no chill.

   • 2017 November 5, Tanay Hudson, “Tyrese’s Meltdown Is Not A Laughing Matter”, in Madame Noire:

     Granted, Tyrese put himself out there by even posting the video, knowing the internet has no chill.

8. A sense of style; trendiness; savoir faire.
   • 2017 November 1, Araceli Aviles, “Will & Grace Series (Re)Premiere Review: Same Characters, Different World”, in TV Overmind:

     Will and Grace still have no chill; having a pillow fight in the Oval Office proves that.

   • 2016 December 16, “James Corden Recaps 2016 With Comedy, Then Makes Somber Plea for Aleppo's Children”, in Hollywood Reporter:

     Angelina left Brad, which upsets me because I'm human," said Corden, adding that Netflix had chill, but the FBI had "zero chill."

   • 2017 October 26, Brian Blueskye, “The Palm Springs City Council Candidate Interview: Robert Julian Stone”, in Coachella Valley Independent:

     “Las Vegas has glitz, but Palm Springs has chill,” Stone said.

9. A chilling effect; an atmosphere of this.
   • 2006 April 1, Leslie Feinberg, “Mid-1960s gay activists tarrget U.S. gov't”, in Workers World‎:

     It was a courageous move by these activists, still living in the chill of the Cold War, to face red-baiting for holding protests that turned Washington's charges against the Cuban Revolution back on the U.S. government.

Adjective

chill (comparative more chill, superlative most chill)

1. Moderately cold or chilly.

   A chill wind was blowing down the street.

   • 1634, John Milton, “Arcades”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC:

     Noisome winds, and blasting vapours chill.

2. Unwelcoming; not cordial.

   Arriving late at the wedding, we were met with a chill reception.

3. (slang) Calm, relaxed, easygoing.

   Synonyms: laid-back, unconcerned; see also Thesaurus:carefree

   The teacher is really chill and doesn't care if you use your phone during class.

   Paint-your-own ceramics studios are a chill way to express yourself while learning more about your date's right brain.

   • 2023 May 15, Alaina Demopoulos, “Why are so many young Americans adopting fake British accents?”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     “I might put it on if someone’s asking me a question I don’t want to answer. It’s like playing the character of an obnoxious, but chill, girl.”

4. (slang) "Cool"; meeting a certain hip standard or garnering the approval of a certain peer group.

   Synonym: cool

   That new movie was chill, man.

5. (slang) Okay, not a problem.

   Sorry about that. —It's chill.

Verb

chill (third-person singular simple present chills, present participle chilling, simple past and past participle chilled)

1. (transitive) To lower the temperature of something; to cool.

   Chill before serving.

2. (intransitive) To become cold.

   In the wind he chilled quickly.

3. (transitive, metallurgy) To harden a metal surface by sudden cooling.
4. (intransitive, metallurgy) To become hard by rapid cooling.
5. (intransitive, slang) To relax; to lie back; to take things easy.

   Chill, man, we've got a whole week to do it; no sense in getting worked up.

   The new gym teacher really has to chill or he's gonna blow a gasket.

   • 1979, “Rapper's Delight”, performed by Sugarhill Gang:

     A time to live and a time to die / A time to break and a time to chill / To act civilized or act real ill

6. (intransitive, slang) To "hang", hang out; to spend time with another person or group.

   Synonym: chill out

   Hey, we should chill this weekend.

7. (intransitive, slang) To smoke marijuana.

   On Friday night do you wanna chill?

8. (transitive, figurative) To discourage, depress.

   Censorship chills public discourse.

References

• “chill”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “chill”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Alternative forms

• ch'ill, 'chill

Contraction

chill

1. (West Country, obsolete) I will

   Synonym: I'll

   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, King Lear, act 4, scene 6, line 226; republished as The Tragedy of King Lear, Cambridge University Press, 2005, →ISBN, page 232:

     Chill not let go, zir, without vurther 'casion

   • 1588, anon. or William Byrd, Though Amaryllis Daunce in Greene:

     Yet since their eyes make hart so sore, hey ho, chill love no more.