come in from the cold

Literally, the term refers to someone who is outdoors when the weather is cold coming indoors to a warm place. The idiomatic senses were popularized by the title of the novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963)[1] by the British author John le Carré (1931–2020); “the Cold” is a pun on the Cold War, during which the novel is set.[2][3]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌm‿ɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkəʊld/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌm‿ɪn fɹəm ðə ˈkoʊld/

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• Rhymes: -əʊld

Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) (intransitive, idiomatic)

1. (espionage) Of a spy: to return home after having gone undercover in enemy territory.
   • 1963 September, John le Carré [pseudonym; David John Moore Cornwell], “The Circus”, in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Coward-McCann, published 1964, →OCLC, page 23:

     I mean … one can't be out in the cold all the time; one has to come in from the cold … do you see what I mean?

2. (by extension) To gain widespread acceptance in a group or society, especially where there was not any before.

   Long an outsider in Western politics, Portugal came in from the cold after the 1974 Carnation Revolution.

• brought in from the cold
• leave someone out in the cold

• “come in from the cold”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “come in from the cold” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “come in from the cold”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.