bone-chilling
adjUK /ˈbəʊnˌtʃɪl.ɪŋ/ · US /ˈboʊnˌtʃɪl.ɪŋ/
1
Very cold.
- I arrived on a day of this last cold bone-chilling month of December.1861, “Volunteers at Hythe”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round, volume IV, page 402:
- They went out on to Seventh Avenue. The rain had stopped, but 'Hawkins', the bone-chilling wind from the north which the negroes greet with a reverent 'Hawkins is here', had come instead to keep the streets free of their usual crowds.1954, Ian Fleming, “Nigger Heaven”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 50:
2
Figuratively Causing great terror or horror; blood-curdling.
- Ever since that bone-chilling post-Super Bowl two-parter […] Reid just can't say no to drugs.2007 February 26, Jonathan Small, “Chic geek: Ex model Matthew Gray Gubler channels his inner nerd on Criminal Minds”, in TV guide, page 23: