cool off

cool off idiom
  1. see cool down.
  2. Also, cool down or out. Calm down, become less ardent, angry, or agitated, as in We can't discuss it until you've cooled off. The verb cool alone has been used in this sense since approximately a.d. 1000; off and down were added in the late 1800s, and Davy Crockett's Almanac (1836) had: “Resting a while, just long enough to cool out a little.”
  3. Also, cool out. Kill someone, as in They threatened to cool off his brother. [Slang; first half of 1800s] Also see cool out, def. 2.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.