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catch cold

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catch cold

 and take cold

Fig. to contract a cold (a common respiratory infection.) (Use with catch is more frequent.) Please close the window, or we'll all catch cold. I take cold every year at this time.

See also: catch, cold

catch somebody cold

  (American)

(informal) to surprise someone with an event, a question, or a piece of news they are not expecting You caught me cold with this news - I didn't know anything about it.

See also: catch, cold

catch cold

Also, catch one's death (of cold). Become infected with a cold virus, contract a bad cold, as in Jane manages to catch cold on every important business trip, or Put on your hat or you'll catch your death. The first term originally (16th century) meant becoming chilled by exposure to cold and took on its present meaning in the late 1600s. The hyperbolic variant, often shortened, is somewhat newer.

See also: catch, cold