chilling

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪlɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlɪŋ

Etymology 1

From Middle English chilling, chelling, chyllinge, chillynge, chillande, equivalent to chill +‎ -ing.

Adjective

chilling (comparative more chilling, superlative most chilling)

1. Becoming cold.
   • 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber, published 2007, page 22:

     As they reached the street the ‘Duchess’ caught a swirling hem of lace about her chilling ankles.

2. Causing cold.
3. Causing mild fear.

   It was a chilling story, but the children enjoyed it.

   • 22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games

     Displaying a sturdy professionalism throughout that stops just short of artistry, director Gary Ross, who co-scripted with Collins and Billy Ray, does his strongest work in the early scenes, which set up the stakes with chilling efficiency.

Derived terms

• blast chilling
• chilling effect
• chillingly
• chillingness

Translations

becoming cold

Finnish: viilenevä, jäähtyvä (fi); paleleva (fi)

causing cold

Catalan: refrescant Finnish: viilentävä, jäähdyttävä (fi) Swedish: kylning (sv)

causing mild fear

Arabic: مرعبه, مخيف, زاحف Catalan: esgarrifós (ca), glaçador Danish: skræmmende, uhyggelig Finnish: pelottava (fi) French: effrayant (fr) German: gruselig (de), unheimlich (de), grauenerregend Italian: spaventoso (it) Portuguese: aterrorizante Spanish: escalofriante (es), espeluznante (es) Swedish: läskigt (sv)

Verb

chilling

1. present participle and gerund of chill

Derived terms

• bone-chilling

Etymology 2

From Middle English chilling, chillyng, chyllynge, equivalent to chill +‎ -ing.

Noun

chilling (plural chillings)

1. The act by which something is chilled.
   • 2004, Timothy D. J. Chappell, Reading Plato's Theaetetus, page 73:

     To such perceivings we give names like these: seeings, hearings, smellings, chillings and burnings, pleasures and pains, desires […]