"come in from the cold" meaning in English

See come in from the cold in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˈkʌm ˌɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkəʊ̯ld/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈkʌm ˌɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkoʊ̯ld/ [Canada, General-American], /ˈkɐm ˌɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkəʉ̯ld/ [General-Australian], /ˈkɐm ˌən fɹəm ðə ˈkɐʉ̯ld/ [New-Zealand], /ˈkʌm ˌɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkold/ [Scotland], /ˈkəm ˌɪn fɾom d̪e ˈkoːlɖ/ [India] Audio: En-au-come in from the cold.ogg Forms: comes in from the cold [present, singular, third-person], coming in from the cold [participle, present], came in from the cold [past], come in from the cold [nonstandard, past], come in from the cold [participle, past], comen in from the cold [participle, past, rare], came in from the cold [colloquial, participle, past], come in out of the cold [alternative]
enPR: kŭm′ ĭn′ frəm thə kōld′ Etymology: Literally, the term refers to someone who is outdoors when the weather is cold coming indoors to a warm place. The idiomatic senses were popularized by the title of the novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) by the British author John le Carré (1931–2020); “the Cold” is a pun on the Cold War, during which the novel is set. Head templates: {{en-verb|come<,,came:come􂀿now nonstandard􂁀,come:comen􂀿rare􂁀:came􂀿colloquial􂁀> in from the cold|head=come in from the cold}} come in from the cold (third-person singular simple present comes in from the cold, present participle coming in from the cold, simple past came in from the cold or (now nonstandard) come in from the cold, past participle come in from the cold or (rare) comen in from the cold or (colloquial) came in from the cold), {{term-label|en|intransitive|idiomatic}} (intransitive, idiomatic)
  1. (espionage) Of a spy: to return home after having gone undercover in enemy territory. Tags: idiomatic, intransitive Translations (of a spy: to return home after having gone undercover in enemy territory): palata kotiin (Finnish), חָזַר מִן הַכְּפוֹר (khazár min hakfór) [masculine] (Hebrew)
    Sense id: en-come_in_from_the_cold-en-verb-hpjylyG6 Categories (other): Espionage Topics: espionage, government, military, politics, war Disambiguation of 'of a spy: to return home after having gone undercover in enemy territory': 98 2
  2. (figurative) To gain widespread acceptance in a group or society, especially where there was not any before. Tags: figuratively, idiomatic, intransitive Translations (to gain widespread acceptance in a group or society, especially where there was not any before): tulla esiin pimennosta (Finnish), venir du froid (French)
    Sense id: en-come_in_from_the_cold-en-verb-r2urzcYO Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Hebrew translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 22 78 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 23 77 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 11 89 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 9 91 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 25 75 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 31 69 Disambiguation of Terms with Hebrew translations: 25 75 Disambiguation of 'to gain widespread acceptance in a group or society, especially where there was not any before': 2 98
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: brought in from the cold, leave someone out in the cold

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Literally, the term refers to someone who is outdoors when the weather is cold coming indoors to a warm place. The idiomatic senses were popularized by the title of the novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) by the British author John le Carré (1931–2020); “the Cold” is a pun on the Cold War, during which the novel is set.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "comes in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "coming in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "came in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "come in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "nonstandard",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "come in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "comen in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past",
        "rare"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "came in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "come in out of the cold",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "come<,,came:come􂀿now nonstandard􂁀,come:comen􂀿rare􂁀:came􂀿colloquial􂁀> in from the cold",
        "head": "come in from the cold"
      },
      "expansion": "come in from the cold (third-person singular simple present comes in from the cold, present participle coming in from the cold, simple past came in from the cold or (now nonstandard) come in from the cold, past participle come in from the cold or (rare) comen in from the cold or (colloquial) came in from the cold)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "intransitive",
        "3": "idiomatic"
      },
      "expansion": "(intransitive, idiomatic)",
      "name": "term-label"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "come in from the cold"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "47 53",
      "word": "brought in from the cold"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "47 53",
      "word": "leave someone out in the cold"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Espionage",
          "orig": "en:Espionage",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              63,
              84
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1963 September, John le Carré [pseudonym; David John Moore Cornwell], “The Circus”, in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Coward-McCann, published 1964, →OCLC, page 23:",
          "text": "I mean … one can't be out in the cold all the time; one has to come in from the cold … do you see what I mean?",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of a spy: to return home after having gone undercover in enemy territory."
      ],
      "id": "en-come_in_from_the_cold-en-verb-hpjylyG6",
      "links": [
        [
          "espionage",
          "espionage"
        ],
        [
          "spy",
          "spy#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "return",
          "return#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "home",
          "home#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "gone",
          "go#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "undercover",
          "undercover#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "enemy",
          "enemy#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "territory",
          "territory"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(espionage) Of a spy: to return home after having gone undercover in enemy territory."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "espionage",
        "government",
        "military",
        "politics",
        "war"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "of a spy: to return home after having gone undercover in enemy territory",
          "word": "palata kotiin"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "98 2",
          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "lang_code": "he",
          "roman": "khazár min hakfór",
          "sense": "of a spy: to return home after having gone undercover in enemy territory",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "חָזַר מִן הַכְּפוֹר"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "22 78",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "23 77",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 89",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "9 91",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "25 75",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "25 75",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hebrew translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              47,
              68
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Long an outsider in Western politics, Portugal came in from the cold after the 1974 Carnation Revolution.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To gain widespread acceptance in a group or society, especially where there was not any before."
      ],
      "id": "en-come_in_from_the_cold-en-verb-r2urzcYO",
      "links": [
        [
          "gain",
          "gain#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "widespread",
          "widespread"
        ],
        [
          "acceptance",
          "acceptance"
        ],
        [
          "group",
          "group#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "society",
          "society"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) To gain widespread acceptance in a group or society, especially where there was not any before."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "to gain widespread acceptance in a group or society, especially where there was not any before",
          "word": "tulla esiin pimennosta"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "2 98",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "to gain widespread acceptance in a group or society, especially where there was not any before",
          "word": "venir du froid"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "kŭm′ ĭn′ frəm thə kōld′"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkʌm ˌɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkəʊ̯ld/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkʌm ˌɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkoʊ̯ld/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɐm ˌɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkəʉ̯ld/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɐm ˌən fɹəm ðə ˈkɐʉ̯ld/",
      "tags": [
        "New-Zealand"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkʌm ˌɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkold/",
      "tags": [
        "Scotland"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkəm ˌɪn fɾom d̪e ˈkoːlɖ/",
      "tags": [
        "India"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-come in from the cold.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/50/En-au-come_in_from_the_cold.ogg/En-au-come_in_from_the_cold.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/En-au-come_in_from_the_cold.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "John le Carré",
    "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold"
  ],
  "word": "come in from the cold"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English idioms",
    "English intransitive verbs",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Hebrew translations"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Literally, the term refers to someone who is outdoors when the weather is cold coming indoors to a warm place. The idiomatic senses were popularized by the title of the novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) by the British author John le Carré (1931–2020); “the Cold” is a pun on the Cold War, during which the novel is set.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "comes in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "coming in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "came in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "come in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "nonstandard",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "come in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "comen in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past",
        "rare"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "came in from the cold",
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "come in out of the cold",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "come<,,came:come􂀿now nonstandard􂁀,come:comen􂀿rare􂁀:came􂀿colloquial􂁀> in from the cold",
        "head": "come in from the cold"
      },
      "expansion": "come in from the cold (third-person singular simple present comes in from the cold, present participle coming in from the cold, simple past came in from the cold or (now nonstandard) come in from the cold, past participle come in from the cold or (rare) comen in from the cold or (colloquial) came in from the cold)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "intransitive",
        "3": "idiomatic"
      },
      "expansion": "(intransitive, idiomatic)",
      "name": "term-label"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "come in from the cold"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "brought in from the cold"
    },
    {
      "word": "leave someone out in the cold"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Espionage"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              63,
              84
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1963 September, John le Carré [pseudonym; David John Moore Cornwell], “The Circus”, in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Coward-McCann, published 1964, →OCLC, page 23:",
          "text": "I mean … one can't be out in the cold all the time; one has to come in from the cold … do you see what I mean?",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of a spy: to return home after having gone undercover in enemy territory."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "espionage",
          "espionage"
        ],
        [
          "spy",
          "spy#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "return",
          "return#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "home",
          "home#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "gone",
          "go#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "undercover",
          "undercover#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "enemy",
          "enemy#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "territory",
          "territory"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(espionage) Of a spy: to return home after having gone undercover in enemy territory."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "espionage",
        "government",
        "military",
        "politics",
        "war"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              47,
              68
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Long an outsider in Western politics, Portugal came in from the cold after the 1974 Carnation Revolution.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To gain widespread acceptance in a group or society, especially where there was not any before."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "gain",
          "gain#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "widespread",
          "widespread"
        ],
        [
          "acceptance",
          "acceptance"
        ],
        [
          "group",
          "group#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "society",
          "society"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) To gain widespread acceptance in a group or society, especially where there was not any before."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "idiomatic",
        "intransitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "kŭm′ ĭn′ frəm thə kōld′"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkʌm ˌɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkəʊ̯ld/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkʌm ˌɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkoʊ̯ld/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɐm ˌɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkəʉ̯ld/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkɐm ˌən fɹəm ðə ˈkɐʉ̯ld/",
      "tags": [
        "New-Zealand"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkʌm ˌɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkold/",
      "tags": [
        "Scotland"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈkəm ˌɪn fɾom d̪e ˈkoːlɖ/",
      "tags": [
        "India"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-come in from the cold.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/50/En-au-come_in_from_the_cold.ogg/En-au-come_in_from_the_cold.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/En-au-come_in_from_the_cold.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "of a spy: to return home after having gone undercover in enemy territory",
      "word": "palata kotiin"
    },
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "lang_code": "he",
      "roman": "khazár min hakfór",
      "sense": "of a spy: to return home after having gone undercover in enemy territory",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "חָזַר מִן הַכְּפוֹר"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "to gain widespread acceptance in a group or society, especially where there was not any before",
      "word": "tulla esiin pimennosta"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "to gain widespread acceptance in a group or society, especially where there was not any before",
      "word": "venir du froid"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "John le Carré",
    "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold"
  ],
  "word": "come in from the cold"
}

Download raw JSONL data for come in from the cold meaning in English (5.5kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-10-07 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-10-01 using wiktextract (19bd8d3 and 1ab82da). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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