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- in a cold sweat
in a cold sweat
in a cold sweat
in a state of fear. He stood there in a cold sweat, waiting for something bad to happen. I was in a cold sweat while they counted the ballots.
in a cold sweat
very frightened or worried I dreamed I'd lost our plane tickets and woke up in a cold sweat.
in a cold sweat
Feeling nervous or terrified, as in When I looked over the cliff, I broke out in a cold sweat. This expression refers to perspiring accompanied by a feeling of cold, which can be induced by acute fear as well as by fever. [Late 1700s]
in a cold sweat
mod. in a state of fear. He stood there in a cold sweat, waiting for something to happen.