Cold shower
modifier
: hard-line, cold-war, cold-shower Republican Protestants
noun phrase
A remedy for illusions; an imposer of reality; a dampener of spirits: turning a cold shower on the grimy, corrosive residue of 73 years of communism
[1990s+; Attested in 1866 in the form a douche of cold water; it should also be recalled that cold baths and showers have been a traditional prescription for calming the rampant male]
A surprisingly chilly reception, reaction, or response, as in The small voter turnout was a cold shower to the League of Women Voters. The allusion in this term is to the unexpected and not always pleasant effect of an ice-cold shower. [ Second half of 1900s ]
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