What is "to give one the cold shoulder"

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.