What is "cold cream"

Cream \Cream\ (kr[=e]m), n. [F. cr[^e]me, perh. fr. LL. crema cream of milk; cf. L. cremor thick juice or broth, perh. akin to cremare to burn.]

1. The rich, oily, and yellowish part of milk, which, when the milk stands unagitated, rises, and collects on the surface. It is the part of milk from which butter is obtained.

2. The part of any liquor that rises, and collects on the surface. [R.]

3. A delicacy of several kinds prepared for the table from cream, etc., or so as to resemble cream.

4. A cosmetic; a creamlike medicinal preparation.

   In vain she tries her paste and creams, To smooth her skin or hide its seams.
   --Goldsmith.

5. The best or choicest part of a thing; the quintessence; as, the cream of a jest or story; the cream of a collection of books or pictures. Welcome, O flower and cream of knights errant. --Shelton. Bavarian cream, a preparation of gelatin, cream, sugar, and eggs, whipped; -- to be eaten cold. Cold cream, an ointment made of white wax, almond oil, rose water, and borax, and used as a salve for the hands and lips. Cream cheese, a kind of cheese made from curd from which the cream has not been taken off, or to which cream has been added. Cream gauge, an instrument to test milk, being usually a graduated glass tube in which the milk is placed for the cream to rise. Cream nut, the Brazil nut. Cream of lime.

   1. A scum of calcium carbonate which forms on a solution of milk of lime from the carbon dioxide of the air.

   2. A thick creamy emulsion of lime in water.

      Cream of tartar (Chem.), purified tartar or argol; so called because of the crust of crystals which forms on the surface of the liquor in the process of purification by recrystallization. It is a white crystalline substance, with a gritty acid taste, and is used very largely as an ingredient of baking powders; -- called also potassium bitartrate, acid potassium tartrate, etc.

Cold \Cold\ (k[=o]ld), a. [Compar. Colder (-[~e]r); superl. Coldest.] [OE. cold, cald, AS. cald, ceald; akin to OS. kald, D. koud, G. kalt, Icel. kaldr, Dan. kold, Sw. kall, Goth. kalds, L. gelu frost, gelare to freeze. Orig. p. p. of AS. calan to be cold, Icel. kala to freeze. Cf. Cool, a., Chill, n.]

1. Deprived of heat, or having a low temperature; not warm or hot; gelid; frigid. ``The snowy top of cold Olympis.''
   --Milton.

2. Lacking the sensation of warmth; suffering from the absence of heat; chilly; shivering; as, to be cold.

3. Not pungent or acrid. ``Cold plants.''
   --Bacon

4. Wanting in ardor, intensity, warmth, zeal, or passion; spiritless; unconcerned; reserved.

   A cold and unconcerned spectator.
   --T. Burnet.

   No cold relation is a zealous citizen.
   --Burke.

5. Unwelcome; disagreeable; unsatisfactory. ``Cold news for me.'' ``Cold comfort.''
   --Shak.

6. Wanting in power to excite; dull; uninteresting.

   What a deal of cold business doth a man misspend the better part of life in!
   --B. Jonson.

   The jest grows cold . . . when in comes on in a second scene.
   --Addison.

7. Affecting the sense of smell (as of hunting dogs) but feebly; having lost its odor; as, a cold scent.

8. Not sensitive; not acute.

   Smell this business with a sense as cold As is a dead man's nose.
   --Shak.

9. Distant; -- said, in the game of hunting for some object, of a seeker remote from the thing concealed.

10. (Paint.) Having a bluish effect. Cf. Warm, 8.

    Cold abscess. See under Abscess.

    Cold blast See under Blast, n., 2.

    Cold blood. See under Blood, n., 8.

    Cold chill, an ague fit.
    --Wright.

    Cold chisel, a chisel of peculiar strength and hardness, for cutting cold metal.
    --Weale.

    Cold cream. See under Cream.

    Cold slaw. See Cole slaw.

    In cold blood, without excitement or passion; deliberately.

    He was slain in cold blood after the fight was over.
    --Sir W. Scott.

    To give one the cold shoulder, to treat one with neglect.

    Syn: Gelid; bleak; frigid; chill; indifferent; unconcerned; passionless; reserved; unfeeling; stoical.

n. (context pharmacy English): An emulsion of water and certain fats, usually including beeswax and various scent agents, designed to smooth skin and remove makeup.

n. a cream used cosmetically (mostly by women) for softening and cleaning the skin [syn: coldcream, face cream, vanishing cream]

Cold cream is an emulsion of water and certain fats, usually including beeswax and various scent agents, designed to smooth skin and remove makeup. The emulsion is of a "water in oil" type unlike the "oil in water" type emulsion of vanishing cream, so-called because it seems to disappear when applied on skin. The name "cold cream" derives from the cooling feeling that the cream leaves on the skin. Variations of the product have been used for nearly 2000 years.

Cold cream is mainly used for skin treatment (such as a facial mask or lip balm), due to its moisturizing properties. It can also be used to remove makeup and as shaving cream.