pour cold water on

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pour cold water on (third-person singular simple present pours cold water on, present participle pouring cold water on, simple past and past participle poured cold water on)

1. (idiomatic) Synonym of throw cold water on (“to belittle or dismiss”).
   • 2020 November 4, Philip Haigh, “Cracks and divisions over funding for public transport”, in Rail, pages 54-55:

     Leaked documents from TfL poured cold water over the prospect of driverless trains. They concluded there was no financial case because because of the very high up-front infrastructure costs.

• throw cold water on

• “pour cold water on”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.