Cold Comfort, subs. phr. (trade).—An expression used of articles sent
out on approval and returned. [Merely an extension of the literal
meaning i.e., what is barren of consolation: a usage dating from the
sixteenth century.
Cold Cook, subs. (popular).—An undertaker. [Literally one who has to
deal with cold meat, i.e., the lifeless human body.] Cf., Cold meat and
its derivatives.
English Synonyms. Carrion hunter; body snatcher; death hunter; black
worker (see Black work).
French Synonyms. Un emballeur de refroidis (thieves’: an undertaker’s
man; literally ‘a packer of cold meat’).
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v.
Cold Cookshop, subs. phr. (popular).—An undertaker’s premises.—See Cold
cook.
Cold Cream.—See Cream of the valley.
Cold Deck, subs. (American thieves’).—A prepared pack of cards. Cf.,
Concaves and convexes and Stock broads. More politely a good hand
obtained on first dealing and without drawing fresh cards.
1880. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Screamers. I never have gambled
from that day to this—never once—without a cold deck in my pocket.
I cannot even tell who is going to lose in games that are being
played unless I deal myself.
Cold Gruel.—See Cold coffee, sense 2.
Cold Meat, subs. (common).—A corpse. [The human carcass is compared to
butchers’ wares.] For synonyms, see Dead Meat. Among medical students
the term cold meat or pickles (q.v.) = specimens direct from the
subject.
1819. Thos. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. to Con., p. 25. In the Twelfth
and Last Round Sandy fetched him a downer, That left him all’s one
as cold meat for the Crowner.
To make cold meat of one, verbal phr. (common).—To kill. For synonyms,
see Cook one’s goose.
1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 148 (ed. 1857). ‘You mustn’t
handle your piece in that ’ere way, when you come to have the
charge in it, sir,’ said the tall gamekeeper, gruffly, ‘or I’m
damned if you won’t make cold meat of some of us!’
Cold-Meat Box, subs. phr. (common).—A coffin. [From cold-meat, a
corpse, + box, a receptacle.] For synonyms, see Eternity box.
1889. Sporting Times, 3 Aug., p. 1, col. 3. ‘Well, s’pose I perched
first?’ ‘Well,’ replied Pitcher, ‘I should just come in where you
were lying in the cold-meat box, and I should whisper in your ear,’
etc.
Cold-Meat Cart, subs. phr. (common).—A hearse. [From cold-meat, a
corpse, + cart.] Fr., mannequin à refroidis. Cf., Cold-meat train.
1820. Reynolds (‘Peter Corcoran’), The Fancy, p. 46. He’s gone—how
very muddy some folks die!—He’s for the cold-meat cart, and so am
I.
Cold-Meat Train, subs. phr. (popular).—Generally, the funeral trains to
Brookwood, Kensal Green, and other cemeteries. Specifically, the last
train at night per S.W.R., by which officers can reach Aldershot in
time for their morning duties. It starts about 2 a.m. from Nine Elms,
and is properly a goods train, but a carriage is attached which is
known as the ‘Larky Subaltern.’ [It is an error to suppose that this
particular train received its nickname for taking corpses to Woking
Cemetery. It carries nothing more dreadful than a portion of the beef
and mutton for the morning ration to the troops in camp; and, as before
stated, a few belated officers.]
1876. R. M. Jephson, Girl He Left Behind Him, ch. xi. The train by
which Dorrien journeyed to Aldershot was that one known as the
cold-meat.
Cold Pig. To give cold pig, verbal phr. (common).—To waken a sleeper
either by sluicing him with cold water, or by suddenly stripping him of
his bed-clothes.
1818. J. R. Planché, Amoroso, King of Little Britain. For if the
Queen should come this way, As sure as fate and quarter day, cold
pig will be your fare.
1837. Comic Almanack, June. I’ve given him strap,—a thick rope’s
end,—cold pig! In vain!—There lies the stupid clown, As if the
Night Mare held him down.
1846. Thackeray, Jeames’s Diary (in Punch, vol. II., p. 72). ‘What
was it I red there? What was it that made me spring outabed as if
sumbady had given me cold pig?—I red Rewin in that share list—the
Pannick was in full hoporation.’
1869. W. Bradwood, The O. V. H., ch. xxxv. Then he came back rosy
and hungry, and revenged himself by an administration of cold pig
to the still slumbering Ralph.
Subs. (thieves’).—1. A person robbed of his clothing. Cf., sense 2.