Wiktionary
in from the cold
a. (context idiomatic English) moved from an ineffective position
Usage examples of "in from the cold".
With fifteen thousand pounds, a gratuity and a pension from the Circus, a man--as Control would say--can afford to come in from the cold.
Once he woke and, stretching, realized that the girl was there, curled far down in the robe, breathing lightly and regularly, and in the dark, bringing his head in from the cold, the sky hard and sharp with stars, the air cold in his nostrils, he put his head under the warmth of the robe and kissed her smooth shoulder.