cold as a witch's kiss

English

Alternative forms

• colder than a witch's kiss

Pronunciation

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Adjective

cold as a witch's kiss (not comparable)

1. (simile, colloquial) Very cold.
   • 1954, Alfred Bester, “Fondly Fahrenheit”, in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 7, page 18:

     They're all cold. Cold as a witch's kiss. Mean temperatures of 40° Fahrenheit. Never get hotter than 70.

   • 1974, James W. Merchant, The use of high altitude aerial photography to inventory wildlife habitat in Kansas, page 40:

     Descend some twenty feet through the pleasant warmth of the ocean's upper layer and you are in water as cold as a witch's kiss.

   • 2002, Judith Bowen, Cowboy Country, page 112:

     Outside, frost glimmered. November, cold as a witch's kiss. Cold as his heart.