Meaning in Plain English

To get cold feet is to lose courage or confidence at the last moment, often backing out of something you had agreed to do. The doubt appears just before the commitment — a wedding, a contract, a parachute jump, a big decision.

  • He got cold feet and cancelled the wedding the week before.
  • I was ready to sign, but I got cold feet at the last minute.
  • She never gets cold feet once she has decided.

The phrase is informal. In careful writing, lost his nerve, had second thoughts, or backed out at the last moment state the idea directly.

How to Use the Phrase

  • get cold feet — the usual form: Don’t get cold feet now.
  • have cold feet — be in that state: She had cold feet about the move.
  • give someone cold feet — make someone hesitate: The lawyer’s warning gave him cold feet.

Related expressions: lose one’s nerve, back out, have second thoughts, chicken out (more childish), get the jitters (lighter).

What the Evidence Shows

The figurative English sense — fear or doubt that reverses an intention — is documented from 1893, in American English. Etymonline dates the phrase to 1893 and connects it with the idiom’s appearance in American English.

The full story is told in the companion history article, Getting Cold Feet: The History and the Theories. The short version:

  • The 1893 date is an early located example, not necessarily the day the expression was invented.
  • Popular stories connect the phrase to an Italian saying about having no money or to a German expression. These parallels may have helped the phrase make sense, but no evidence shows a chain from any of them into American English.
  • The honest label is origin not settled: the phrase is documented in American English from the late 1800s, and no single origin theory is proven.

Quick Questions

Is “cold feet” about feeling physically cold?

No — it means losing courage. The image of cold feet for fear or hesitation is figurative.

Is the phrase American?

The earliest documented examples are American (1893).

Does it only apply to weddings?

No — any commitment: contracts, moves, launches, public performances, big purchases.

Did the phrase come from Italy or Germany?

Popular theories say so, but there is no documented chain from those languages into the American English phrase. The evidence supports an American English record from 1893, with the origin otherwise unsettled.

Sources and Further Reading