frigid, a.
(ˈfrɪdʒɪd)
[ad. L. frīgid-us, f. frīgēre to be cold, f. frīgus cold.]
1. a. Intensely cold, devoid of heat or warmth, of a very low temperature.
| 1639 Chapman & Shirley Ball iv. ii, Your eye Will make the frigid region temperate, Should you but smile upon't. 1665 Glanvill Scepsis Sci. vii. 35 If..in a Winter-night, we expose the liquor to the frigid air. 1800 Med. Jrnl. IV. 4 Frigid applications, would..have induced a spontaneous separation. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. I. 340 In these frigid regions, the scurvy becomes a very alarming disease. Ibid. 362 Frigid winds (or winds blowing over an extensive surface of ice). 1849 Longfellow Christmas Carol v, Nuns in frigid cells At this holy tide. 1878 M. A. Brown Nadeschda 47 Like snow on the mountains, So white but yet so frigid. |
b. frigid zone: each of the two regions of the globe which lie within the north and south polar circles respectively.
| [1597 Hartwell Pigafetta's Congo (Title-page), The two Zones, Torrida & Frigida.] 1622 Massinger & Dekker Virg. Mart. v. i, I'll..hang thee In a contorted chain of icicles In the frigid zone. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 65 The shudd'ring tenant of the frigid zone, Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own. 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea i. 15 It conveys heat away from the torrid zone and ice from the frigid. |
2. transf. Wanting in sexual vigour; impotent. Now
usu. applied to women who are sexually unresponsive.
| 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 78 If either party were precontracted, or frigid; these necessarily preceding the matrimony do dissolve the bond. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Frigid, a weak disabled Husband, cold, impotent. 1732 Swift Beasts' Confession Wks. 1755 IV. i. 268 He was not much inclin'd To fondness for the female kind..Not from his frigid constitution, But through a pious resolution. 1893 J. A. Symonds Life Michelangelo II. 384 The whole weight of argument..leaves the impression on our mind that he was a man of physically frigid temperament, extremely sensitive to beauty of the male type. 1927 W. M. Gallichan Sexual Apathy i. 11 The frigid wife sheds an unconscious influence upon her children and those around her. 1953 J. S. van Teslaar tr. Stekel's Frigidity in Woman v. 96 (heading) Psychology of the frigid woman. Ibid. 97 On their part they remain frigid during the act. 1962 C. Allen Textbk. Psychosexual Disorders v. xiv. 279 Women who are frigid frequently show great fear of snakes and often dream of them. |
3. fig. a. Destitute of ardour or warmth of feeling, lacking enthusiasm or zeal; cold, indifferent, apathetic; formal, stiff.
| 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. v. 27 To be content that times to come should onely know there was such a man, not caring whether they knew more of him, was a frigid ambition in Cardan. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 363 His faint and frigid expressions thereof manifested his mind rather to betray than defend it. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 18 ¶3 The most frigid and inexorable judge. 1751 Ibid. No. 149 ¶5 Our reception was rather frigid than malignant. 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 353 Charms that might warm even the frigid heart of a dervise. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) IV. xxxviii. 321 The nobles..let matters take their course with frigid indifference. 1880 T. Hardy Trumpet-Major III. 224 Anne went home with her, bidding Loveday a frigid adieu. |
| absol. 1762 Foote Orators ii. Wks. 1799 I. 219 You will have at one view, the choleric..the frigid, the frothy..and the clamorous. |
b. Said of things: Chilling, depressing.
| 1844 Alb. Smith Adv. Mr. Ledbury vi. (1886) 18 The frigid respectability and dilapidated grandeur of the Faubourg St. Germain. 1888 F. Hume Mad. Midas i. iv, Placed, not amid the frigid splendours of the drawing room, but..in his own particular den. |
c. That leaves the imagination cold; that does not stir the fancy; lacking fire or spirit; dull, flat, insipid.
† Formerly also (as L.
frigidus), of a reason, argument, etc.: Lacking force or point, senseless, absurd.
| 1643 Milton Divorce ix. (1851) 46 The pretended reason of it [is] as frigid as frigidity it self. 1699 Bentley Phalaris 112 Was ever any thing so forced, so frigid, so unworthy of refutation? 1713 Parnell Styles Poetry 65 Bleak level Realm, where Frigid Styles abound, Where never yet a daring thought was found. 1729 Swift On burning a dull Poem Misc. 1735 V. 48 Methought..No Vessel but an Ass's Head Such frigid Fustian could contain. 1839 H. Rogers Ess. II. iii. 138 The one shall impart the most frigid, and the other the most vivid conception of the meaning. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 273 He..gave vent to his feelings in a hundred and sixty lines of frigid bombast. |
Hence
ˈfrigidly adv.,
ˈfrigidness.
| 1647 Trapp Comm. Mark i. 22 And not as the Scribes. Frigidly and jejunely. 1697 Bates Harmony Div. Attrib. xvii. 322 If in the Platonical Philosophy there are some things directing to it, yet they are but frigidly exprest. 1727 Bailey vol. II, Frigidness, coldness. 1777 Nat. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 89/1 Lands doomed by nature to perpetual frigidness. 1844 Hood Bridge of Sighs xv, Ere her limbs frigidly Stiffen too rigidly. 1883 Black Shandon Bells xxvi, ‘What I have is quite enough’, said the..lady, somewhat frigidly. |