Blow hot and cold

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Meaning

To waver or flip-flop, hot one minute, cold the next.

Origin

From 16th-century England, tied to Aesop's 'The Satyr and the Traveller' (6th BCE), where a man blows hot and cold, English by 1570s in a Lyly play for waver. A 1611 Bible hint (Revelation 3: 16) adds lukewarm.

Variants

  • Hot and cold

Usage Examples

  • She blows hot and cold-can't decide.
  • He's blowing hot and cold on the plan.
  • Blow hot and cold; make up your mind!

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