pour cold water on

Idioms and Phrases

Also, throw cold water on . Discourage or deter, as in Cutting my year-end bonus poured cold water on my loyalty to the company , or Hearing about the outbreak of cholera threw cold water on our plans to visit Bolivia . This term, with its image of putting out a fire with water, at one time meant “defame” or “slander”; the modern meaning dates from about 1800.