What does the Phrase ‘In Cold Blood’ Means?

To do something in cold blood means —

• to do it in a calm emotionless manner;
• to do it with ruthless and deliberate intention;
• to be cruel without guilt.

To commit a crime with pre-planning rather than in the heat of the moment.

This phrase is used mostly for murder crimes and the murder is described as cold-blooded.

As I have already said in another article, since the olden times, blood has been associated with anger. It was a widely held belief that when people are angry or passionate, their blood heats up.

Thus, the crime which was committed in anger was called a crime of passion. Conversely, the crime, which was committed in a calm, deliberate manner was said to have been committed in cold blood.

When a criminal commits murder, you can imagine that his heartbeat will rise, his blood will flow faster in his veins and his blood might heat up in anger. But suppose that these physiological changes do not occur in a criminal. It means that he is a cold-blooded killer.

People use this phrase to express the shock or horror of a crime.

For example —

“Nobody can’t believe that the shy, timid husband killed his wife in cold blood.”

It means that the shy husband killed his wife cruelly without feeling any remorse or guilt.

I hope you found this story interesting. If you did, buy my full course on Udemy, or watch it for free on Skillshare by signing up here. This course covers nearly 380 idioms with their origins and backstories.

Hi, I am Gauri Shanker, a Vocab teacher and enthusiast. I teach vocabulary in a fun and engaging way. You can check out my courses here.