Question

Choose the correct meaning of the given phrase.
“In cold blood”
a) Coldly
b) Boldly
c) Ruthlessly
d) Deliberately
e) None of these

Answer 1

Hint:A phrase refers to an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up. For example- ‘be up’ refers to being out of bed.

Complete answer:
In the given question, the phrase ‘in cold blood’ refers to ‘emotionlessly and heartlessly; with deliberate cruelty or callousness’.
Let us thus analyze the options given to us in this question:
Option (a.), 'coldly', refers to ‘lacking the warmth of feeling; in a cold, unemotional manner’.
Therefore, option (a.) is incorrect as it is not at all similar to what the definition of ‘in cold blood’ says.
Option (b.), ‘boldly', refers to ‘with boldness, in a bold manner’.Therefore, option (b.) is incorrect as it is not similar to the meaning of ‘in cold blood’.
Option (c.), ‘ruthlessly’, refers to ‘in a ruthless manner; in a ruthless manner.’Therefore, option (c.) is correct as it is synonymous to that of ‘in cold blood’s definition.
Option (d.), ‘deliberately’, refers to ‘with intention; in an intentional manner.’Therefore, option (d.) is incorrect as it is not similar to what ‘in cold blood’ means.
Option (d.), ‘none of these’, is incorrect as option (c.) is correct.

Note:
In this type of question, the student must always recall that phrases should not be taken literally, as they seldom mean what the words in the phrase collectively portray to mean. Let’s now look at an example where the given phrase ‘in cold blood’ is used- He murdered her in cold blood.