blow hot and cold
/ˌbləʊ ˌhɒt ən ˈkəʊld/INFORMAL · C1
Meaning
to keep changing your attitude towards something
Examples
- 1Priya has been blowing hot and cold about the flat, so the agent is offering it to someone else.
- 2My brother blows hot and cold about every hobby: guitar one month, running the next, nothing after that.
- 3The council blew hot and cold for years, so the new cycle lane still hasn't been built.
- 4One day Sam wants to move to Scotland, the next he doesn't — why does he blow hot and cold like that?
- 5Stop blowing hot and cold and tell me whether you're coming to the wedding or not.
Grammar
Only blow changes form: blew, blown, blowing. Keep the order hot and cold. The thing people keep changing their minds about follows about.
Similar in meaning
More idioms about weather
All 20 idioms and the topic quiz →make heavy weather ofto treat an easy task as more difficult than it isa fair-weather friendsomeone who is loyal only when things are going wellin the cold light of daylater, when you can think about something calmlyunder the weatherfeeling slightly illbreak the iceto help people who have just met feel more relaxeda breath of fresh airsomeone or something new that makes things more exciting
English Idioms400 idioms in 20 topics — with reviews that keep them from fading
Here you get a couple of questions. The app gives you 16 practice modes, native equivalents and spaced repetition that tells you when it’s time to refresh.
