give someone the cold shoulder

English

Etymology

First recorded use of the expression was in 1816 by Sir Walter Scott in Scots (“The Countess’s dislike didna gang farther at first than just showing o’ the cauld shouther”.) This expression and its German equivalent are mistranslations of dederunt umerum recedentem from the Book of Nehemiah 9:29 from the Vulgate Bible, which actually means "stubbornly they turned their backs on you", which comes from the Septuagint Bible's equivalent ἔδωκαν (édōkan) νῶτον ἀπειθοῦντα. Latin umerus means both "shoulder" and "back".

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

give someone the cold shoulder (third-person singular simple present gives someone the cold shoulder, present participle giving someone the cold shoulder, simple past gave someone the cold shoulder, past participle given someone the cold shoulder)

1. (idiomatic) To snub, resist or reject somebody; to regard somebody distantly.

   I must have made him angry with my comment. He’s been giving me the cold shoulder ever since I said it.

Translations

snub

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不理不睬 (zh) (bùlǐbùcǎi), 冷落 (zh) (lěngluò), 冷淡 (zh) (lěngdàn)

• Dutch: iemand (nl) links laten liggen
• Finnish: olla ynseä jotakin kohtaan, kohdella jotakin ynseästi, kohdella jotakuta kylmäkiskoisesti, kohdella jotakuta yliolkaisesti
• French: être en froid avec quelqu’un, battre froid à quelqu’un
• German: jemandem (de) die kalte Schulter zeigen (de)
• Japanese: 白い目で見る (shiroi me de miru)
• Polish: traktować jak powietrze (pl) impf, potraktować jak powietrze pf
• Russian: оказа́ть холо́дный приём (okazátʹ xolódnyj prijóm)
• Spanish: dar la espalda, hacer el vacío