The quality or condition of being cold in temperature, or metaphorically, the state of being emotionally distant, unfriendly, or lacking warmth in behavior.
From Old English 'cald' plus the suffix '-ness'. The metaphorical use of temperature words for emotions is ancient, reflecting the universal human experience of associating physical and emotional states.
The dual nature of 'coldness' reveals how deeply intertwined our physical and emotional vocabularies are - we use the same word for winter air and a person's unfriendly demeanor. This metaphorical mapping is so fundamental that people literally feel physically colder when socially excluded, making 'coldness' more than just a figure of speech.
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