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cold fish
cold fish
Someone who shows no emotion and comes across as unfriendly or disinterested. The manager decided not to hire Bill as the store greeter because he came across like a cold fish during the interview.
*cold fish
Fig. a person who is distant and unfeeling. (*Typically: act like ~; be ~.) Bob is so dull—a real cold fish. She hardly ever speaks to anyone. She's a cold fish.
cold fish
A hard-hearted, unfeeling individual, one who shows no emotion, as in Not even the eulogy moved him; he's a real cold fish. This expression was used by Shakespeare in The Winter's Tale (4:4): "It was thought she was a woman, and was turn'd into a cold fish." However, it came into wider use only in the first half of the 1900s.
cold fish
n. a dull and unresponsive person. I hate to shake hands with a cold fish like that. He didn’t even smile.