cool as a cucumber

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English

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Etymology

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First use appears c. 1722 in a translation of Robinson Crusoe. See cite below.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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cool as a cucumber (not comparable)

  1. (simile, informal) Calm and composed even in difficult or frustrating situations; self-possessed.
    Even during the elections, Josh was as cool as a cucumber.
    • 1722, Daniel Defoe, Tweede deel der wonderbare levens gevallen van Robinson Crusoe ... Nu uit het Engelsch vertaaldt, en met een kaart zyner voyagie, en figuren voorzien (translation), page 167:
      Still he had all his wits about him, and was as cool as a cucumber.
    • 1731, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Miscellanies: The Last Volume
      Pert as a Pear-Monger I'd be,
      If Molly were but kind;
      Cool as a Cucumber could see
      The rest of Womankind
    • 2011 January 8, Chris Bevan, “Arsenal 1 - 1 Leeds”, in BBC[1]:
      Seconds later, Dowd was pointing to the spot again - this time without changing his mind - after Walcott was tugged back by Parker. Fabregas, cool as a cucumber, fired his penalty straight down the middle of the goal.
    • 2016 May 17, Don Markus, “For Kent Desormeaux, Preakness is a welcome Maryland homecoming”, in The Washington Post[2]:
      “I’d be shaking in my shoes to ride in the Preakness,” said Desormeaux, who finished dead last in his first Preakness in 1988. “Now, not only have I won it twice [in 1998 on Real Quiet and in 2008 on Big Brown], I’ve lived life. I’ll be as cool as a cucumber in the saddle” with Exaggerator on Saturday.

Synonyms

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Translations

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See also

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