Meaning & use
cold bones
Last updated
Meaning
phrasefixed phraseinformalfigurative
A nonstandard phrase meaning an uncomfortable feeling of being very cold, often used informally to describe feeling cold deep inside the body.
Grammar: Used as a noun phrase, often after 'have' or 'get': I have cold bones.
Patterns
- have cold bones
- get cold bones
- feel cold bones
After walking in the snow, I felt like I had cold bones.
She said she had cold bones even sitting by the fire.
The wind was so icy that it gave me cold bones.
Common combinations
- have cold bones
- He said he had cold bones after the swim.
- feel cold bones
- I feel cold bones when the temperature drops.
- get cold bones
- You'll get cold bones if you don't wear a coat.
Synonyms and how they differ
- chilled to the bone
- A standard idiom meaning extremely cold; 'cold bones' is not standard and sounds informal or made-up.
- freezing
- Means very cold; 'cold bones' suggests a deeper, internal coldness.
Opposites
Commonly confused: cold bones or cold agglutinin disease?
cold bones vs cold agglutinin disease
A rare medical condition where the body attacks red blood cells in cold temperatures; not the same as the informal phrase 'cold bones'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'cold bones' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Cold bones' is an informal phrase meaning feeling very cold, so 'I have cold bones' fits. The other options treat it as a physical object or a verb, which is wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cold bones”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.