get cold feet

English

WOTD – 24 March 2019

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɡɛt ˈkəʊld fiːt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɡɛt ˈkoʊld fit/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

get cold feet (third-person singular simple present gets cold feet, present participle getting cold feet, simple past got cold feet, past participle (UK) got cold feet or (US) gotten cold feet)

1. To develop cold feet, in the sense of nervousness about going through with something.
   • 2020 July 12, Christian Wolmar, “Cab ride reveals the pluses and minuses of Oxford route”, in RAIL, number 987, page 44:

     As we accelerate after leaving Didcot, we pass a lot of masts erected for wires that have not yet materialised - and probably won't for years to come. That's because halfway through the Great Western Electrification Programme, ministers suddenly got cold feet as the cost escalated.

Translations

to develop cold feet (nervousness about going through with something)

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 臨陣退縮／临阵退缩, 臨陣退縮／临阵退缩 (línzhèntuìsuō)

• Danish: få kolde fødder, trække i land
• Dutch: watervrees hebben, plankenkoorts hebben
• Finnish: jänistää (fi)
• German: kalte Füße bekommen (de)
• Hebrew: לקבל רגלים קרות (he)
• Hungarian: inába száll a bátorsága (hu), visszariad (hu), visszaretten (hu), elbátortalanodik (hu), (colloquial) beijed (hu), begyullad (hu), berezel (hu), (slang) begazol (hu), bemajrézik
• Italian: farsi il sangue amaro
• Macedonian: се попи́шмани pf (se popíšmani), се испи́шмани pf (se ispíšmani), се пи́шмани impf (se píšmani), се ко́леба impf (se kóleba), се поко́леба pf (se pokóleba)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: få kalde føtter

  Nynorsk: få kalde føter

• Polish: mieć pietra impf
• Portuguese: amarelar (pt)
• Swedish: få kalla fötter (sv)
• Turkish: çekinmek (tr), gözü yememek (tr), götü yememek (slang)