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Phrase(s): cool down
Go to cool off., Phrase(s): cool someone down [and] cool someone off
1. Lit. to cool someone by reducing the heat or applying something cold. • Here, have a cold drink. Cool yourself down. • The ice finally cooled down the feverish child. • We need to cool off the pudding in a hurry. 2. Fig. to reduce someone’s anger. (Reducing the "heat" of anger.) • I just stared at him while he was yelling. I knew that would cool him down. • The coach talked to them for a long time. That cooled them off. 3. Fig. to reduce someone’s passion or love. (Reducing the "heat" of passion.) • When she slapped him, that really cooled him down. • Seeing Mary was too intense, so Bill cooled himself off by breaking it off for a while.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
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Also, cool off. 1. Effect a lower temperature, especially of the body following vigorous exercise. For example, After a race the coach makes the entire team do stretches to cool down, or Let's take a dip to cool off. These phrases date from A.D. 1000 with reference to the weather or cooking (as in First let the eggs cool off). The first gained renewed currency with the exercise boom of the late 1900s. 2. See COOL OFF, def. 2.
American Heritage Idioms