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cool down

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cool someone down

 and cool someone off 

1. Lit. to cool someone by reducing the heat or applying something cold. Here, have a cold drink. Cool yourself down. The ice finally cooled down the feverish child. We need to cool off the pudding in a hurry.

2. Fig. to reduce someone's anger. (Reducing the "heat" of anger.) I just stared at him while he was yelling. I knew that would cool him down. The coach talked to them for a long time. That cooled them off.

3. Fig. to reduce someone's passion or love. (Reducing the "heat" of passion.) When she slapped him, that really cooled him down. Seeing Mary was too intense, so Bill cooled himself off by breaking it off for a while.

See also: cool, down

cool down

also cool off

to stop feeling angry After the girls were kept apart for a while, tempers cooled down and the shouting stopped. I was really angry, so I left the house and took a walk to cool off.

See also: cool, down

cool down

Also, cool off.

1. Effect a lower temperature, especially of the body following vigorous exercise. For example, After a race the coach makes the entire team do stretches to cool down, or Let's take a dip to cool off. These phrases date from a.d. 1000 with reference to the weather or cooking (as in First let the eggs cool off). The first gained renewed currency with the exercise boom of the late 1900s.

2. See cool off, def. 2.

See also: cool, down

cool down

v.

1. To become cooler: We sat in the shade to cool down. As soon as the pie cools down, we can eat it.

2. To make something cooler: She cooled down her coffee with an ice cube. He turned on the fan to cool the room down.

3. To gradually relax after a period of physical exertion: We walked around the track to cool down after our two-mile run.

4. To become less angry or contentious: Let's discuss this after you cool down a bit.

5. To cause someone or something to become less angry or contentious: The mediator cooled down the disputing parties. The principal cooled the angry students down.

See also: cool, down

cool down

in. to calm down. Now, just cool down. Chill, chill. Everything’s gonna be real cool.

See also: cool, down