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Cold feet

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Cold feet: sudden loss of nerve or confidence, especially before a commitment; the physiological chill of fear registers in the extremities, making this a bodily metaphor for hesitation.

Detailed Definition
Cold feet means a sudden loss of courage or confidence before a commitment, risk, journey, marriage, confession, or decisive act. In poetry, it helps dramatise hesitation at the threshold: the bridegroom delays, the soldier fears battle, the emigrant doubts departure, or the speaker shrinks from truth. The bodily image of coldness suggests fear entering the extremities and stopping movement. It can be comic in light verse, but also psychologically subtle in poems about conscience, desire, and the terror of irreversible choice.
Example
Example in poetry:
A wedding poem might give the bridegroom cold feet before the bells begin; In a battle poem, cold feet can mark fear before action; The phrase suits poems where hesitation interrupts a promised decision; A poet could use it sympathetically when courage must overcome doubt.
Additional Notes
Cold feet means sudden fear, hesitation, or loss of courage before action, often before marriage or commitment. In poetry, temperature and bodily sensation make the phrase vivid: fear descends into the extremities. It can be comic or serious, useful for thresholds, vows, journeys, battles, and confessions. A poet may contrast cold feet with a burning heart to dramatise inner conflict.
Also Known As
loss of nerve
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