cold feet

Meaning

1. A feeling of nervousness or anxiety causing one to reconsider a decision about an upcoming event.
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cold, feet.

Etymology / origin

Idiomatic sense possibly from a calque of German kalte Füße bekommen (“to get cold feet”), or of Lombard avegh minga frecc i pee (“to have no money”, literally “to be cold in the feet”) (Italian aver freddo ai piedi), said by a person who wishes to stop gambling, allegedly because the person now has cold feet due to being too poor to afford proper footwear.

Sources

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