gelid
adjUS, UK /ˈd͡ʒɛl.ɪd/ · US /ˈd͡ʒɛl.əd/
Etymology First attested in 1630. From Latin gelidus (“cold”), from gelu (“frost”).
1
Literary Very cold; icy or frosty; frigid.
- Of Cassandra-Marat we have spoken often; yet the most surprising truth remains to be spoken: that he actually does not want sense; but, with croaking gelid throat, croaks out masses of the truth, on several things.1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number):
- Above the gelid source of mountain springs, A solitary eagle, circling, flies.1898, Florence Earle Coates, “Siberia”, in Poems:
2 more examples
- In the worst of summer the tower remained cool, yet the air seemed feverish and gelid when sisters of different Ajahs came too close.2005, Robert Jordan, Knife of Dreams:
- For a while he stares out of the window. It is twilight - cold, deepening twilight. Over the roofs of the opposite house-backs, two garden lengths away, the sky is gelid, luminous, sad. A quiet albescent yellow. Everything is very still.2008, David Szalay, London and the South-East: