cooled

1. 1
   adjective

   Brought to a lower temperature than before.

   The cooled magma had hardened into solid black rock.

   Workers handled the cooled glass once it left the furnace.

   Similarchilled, cold

   Oppositeheated, warmed

   Note

   The adjective is simply cool plus -ed, so it describes something that has gone through cooling rather than something that is merely cool. Nigella Lawson's cooled cakes came out of a hot oven and were left to stand before assembly. That sense of a finished step is why recipes and instructions prefer cooled to cool: the word tells you the heat was there and is now gone.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of cool.

   The lava cooled into jagged black rock over many days.

   The engine had cooled by the time the mechanic arrived.

   Note

   Regular verbs like cool use one form for both jobs, so the construction decides which is meant: the soup cooled is simple past, while the soup had cooled or was cooled by the breeze uses the participle. Only the transitive use can go passive. In dated slang the verb could mean to kill, so in older writing someone who was cooled may have been killed, not calmed.

3. 3
   adjective

   Lowered in temperature by the means indicated in the preceding word, as in air-cooled or water-cooled.

   Most small aircraft still rely on air-cooled engines.

   The data center uses a liquid-cooled system to manage the heat from its servers.

   Note

   Here the word works as the second half of a compound, and the first half names the means: water, air, oil, liquid. Before a noun the pair is joined with a hyphen, as in a water-cooled engine. The pattern stays open, so a new coolant slots straight in, and the compound describes how a machine keeps its temperature down rather than how warm it is at the moment.

4. 4
   adjectivefiguratively

   Brought to a reduced degree of anger or strong feeling.

   With cooled passions, the two rivals finally shook hands.

   The mediator returned to the cooled dispute with fresh proposals the next morning.

   Similarcalmed, subdued, tempered

   Oppositeinflamed, heated

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