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To Have Cold Feet
To Have Cold Feet
To Have Cold Feet : Phrases
Meaning:
To have doubts; to be afraid of a course of action.
Example:
Origin:
An old Italian (Lombard) proverb - the expression signifies to be without means or resources; if someone is very poor then the chances of affording shoes are remote and the person therefore has cold feet.
Alternative: In an 1862 novel by Fritz Reuter, a card player backs out of a game on the grounds that his feet are cold. One can imagine that he was fearful of losing all and his cold feet were as good an excuse as he could think of to help him get out of the game.