run hot and cold
To alternate between two opposite extremes, such as enthusiasm and disinterest or…To alternate between two opposite extremes, such as enthusiasm and disinterest or success and failure.
» He felt his blood run cold.
felidad · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 senses(idiomatic)To alternate between two opposite extremes, such as enthusiasm and disinterest or success and failure.
Henrietta's feelings for Delbert run hot and cold—one minute she's hopelessly in love with him, and the next she can't stand the sight of him.
The business runs hot and cold; some months our firm doesn't earn enough to cover expenses and other months, we net 400% profits.
Examples
20 sentencesHe felt his blood run cold.
I remember feeling my body run cold.
My nose runs whenever I have a cold.
ruКаждый раз, когда я простужаюсь, у меня идут сопли. — averoes
deImmer wenn ich eine Erkältung habe, läuft meine Nase. — kingalekz
As soon as he saw him, his blood ran cold.
As the bath is too hot, I will run some cold water into it.
Forms
runs hot and cold, running hot and cold, ran hot and cold, run hot and cold| Base form | run hot and cold · to run hot and cold |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | runs hot and cold |
| Present participle | running hot and cold |
| Past simple | ran hot and cold |
| Past participle | run hot and cold |
irregular · Lesson
Synonyms
2 synonymsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, irregular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.