1. That chills or produces the sensation of cold; appreciably or disagreeably cold.
1570. Turberv., Lover to his carefull Bed. Ne heate … May bate my chillie colde.
1573. Twyne, Æneid., XI. Hh j b. Nights chyllie shade.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XII. 435. A chilly fear congeal’d my vital blood.
1793. Southey, Triumph of Woman, 124. The chilly mists of eventide.
1849. Lytton, Caxtons, III. vi. It was as chilly as if it had been October.
2. Affected by a chill or by cold; feeling rather cold, coldish. b. Sensitive to cold, easily chilled.
1611. Florio, Griccioloso, chillie or shiuering through cold.
1727. W. Pulteney, in Colman’s Posth. Lett. (1820), 12. By nursing herself up too much, she is so chilly that she can scarce stir abroad without catching cold.
1839. Dickens, Nich. Nick., xxii. The chilly cry of the poor sweep as he crept shivering to his early toil.
1878. R. Taylor, in N. Amer. Rev., CXXVI. 93. I … found him, sitting near a fire, for he is of a chilly nature.
3. fig. Void of, or adverse to, warmth of feeling.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., I. 143. A chilly feeling in which for a time grief is kept aloof by fear.
1874. Morley, Compromise (1886), 33. Very chilly to general theories, loftily disdainful to the men of a principle.
4. In comb., as chilly-fingered, -hearted, adjs.
1818. Keats, Endymion, IV. 971. Chilly-finger’d spring.
1865. Trollope, Belton Est., xix. 223. He was chilly-hearted, but yet quite capable of enough love to make him a good son.
