Meaning of cosy in English:

1Giving a feeling of comfort, warmth, and relaxation.

1. 1.1(of a relationship or conversation) intimate and relaxed.
   ‘a very cosy little chat’
   More example sentences

   • ‘The colonialists and the communalists had a cozy relationship at a deeper level.’
   • ‘Policy communities are cosy relationships between organized interests and officials.’
   • ‘What do you make of the state of the cozy relationship?’
   • ‘It's a cosy relationship of mutual dependence that is replicated throughout the whole of the human services.’
   • ‘During their 45 minutes on stage together, the frequent physical contact and chatter between the two signified a cozy relationship.’
   • ‘However, this cosy relationship ended when Wilkinson's younger brother, William, returned from Europe in the late 1780s.’
   • ‘Then in steps the villain, with an almost Machiavellian intent to wreck the perfectly cosy relationship that the two lovers have built up.’
   • ‘Not surprisingly, it has become a popular eat-out for the corporates, families and for the cosy twosomes.’
   • ‘It was a lovely family moment, full of cuddling and hugging and cozy fun.’
   • ‘‘I saw that you and he got a little cozy in the lobby,’ Chris teased as he sat on her bed.’
   Synonyms

   intimate, relaxed, informal, friendly

   View synonyms
2. 1.2Not seeking or offering challenge or difficulty; complacent.
   ‘a cosy assumption among audit firms that they would never go bust’
   More example sentences

   • ‘For make no mistake, they are challenging not just our cosy ideas of what it means to be Scottish and support football, they are threatening the very world order of soccer itself.’
   • ‘Blogging is said to have changed modern journalism by challenging the cosy media monopoly with its grass-roots approach to issues.’
   • ‘That manifests itself in a cosy collectivism that seeks to minimise the importance of any problem.’
   • ‘I want my world rocked and my cosy assumptions blown out of the water.’
   • ‘But there is a cosy complacency that Scotland doesn't suffer from it, when that is simply not true.’
   • ‘But like many others, I have always been uneasy with that cosy assumption: it lets everyone off their own personal hook.’
   • ‘This cosy set-up was unlikely to be challenged as long as the company performed financially.’
   • ‘To start with this is an unproven assertion based all too obviously on a cosy view of a mythical working class family from the Fifties.’
   • ‘Marriage followed alongside a comfortable life on the cosy road to middle-class success.’
3. 1.3informal, derogatory (of a transaction or arrangement) beneficial to all those involved and possibly somewhat corrupt.
   ‘a cosy deal’
   More example sentences

   • ‘This cosy arrangement has been abruptly terminated, however, by new government regulations limiting the sort of work that amateurs can carry out.’
   • ‘This was a cosy arrangement, but it is no longer viable.’
   • ‘If this sounds like a pretty cozy arrangement, it is.’
   • ‘Shareholders considered the arrangement too cosy.’
   • ‘This isn't good enough, and a current court case may end this cosy little arrangement.’
   • ‘And as it all unravelled, cosy deals, lax auditing, wheels within wheels, and slippery accounting was exposed.’
   • ‘What we do not want is more delaying tactics, promises of announcements further down the track, cosy meetings and backroom deals.’
   • ‘Buying off tyrants with cosy deals and soothing them with weasel words is yesterday's strategy.’
   • ‘It is a cosy little arrangement between the clubs.’
   • ‘There will be no more cosy deals or discussions that exclude the public.’
   • ‘He was cozy enough with management that he was allowed to attend board meetings.’
   • ‘If so - and it's hard to think of any other reason - the relationship between the Court of Appeals and the company seems just a little too cosy for comfort.’
   • ‘Impropriety regarding cozy relationships with local politicians also surfaced.’
   • ‘If not, how does one explain the cozy relationship between a major news organization and the campaign team?’
   • ‘After all, that might endanger the prosperity of the railways, and their cozy relationship with the grain companies.’
   • ‘But it illustrates yet again the uncomfortably cosy relationship between those in power and those charged with policing them in the nicest possible way.’
   • ‘The participants also felt that where the press had a cosy relationship with politicians, it was bound to have negative consequences.’
   • ‘The cosy relationship between old political strongmen and big business is dead.’
   • ‘Judges hardly interfered with decisions of the executive, and the judiciary and the government had a cozy relationship.’
   • ‘The cozy ties among him, the company, and its board are also coming under scrutiny.’

1A soft covering to keep a teapot, boiled egg, etc. hot.

1. 1.1A soft decorative cover for a particular object.
   ‘a handmade phone cosy’
   ‘crocheted tissue box cosies’
   More example sentences

   • ‘Who even knew tissue box cozies were a thing?’
   • ‘Chan has got her own store where you can purchase crocheted corn-dog pen cozies and even crocheted bread-and-butter scarves!’
   • ‘Whether she's in the office, at home or out to lunch, these chic cozies will keep her phone off the floor and out of danger from being stepped on.’
   • ‘She knows this problem well and has even created lighter cozies to prevent her lighters from vanishing.’
   • ‘The latest global rage is yarn-bombing, a wool-based graffiti in which knitting fanatics drape potholes, cars and statues in crazy cosies.’
   • ‘Often dozens of balls of wool are used to make sleeves or cosies for everyday objects including cars and trees.’
   • ‘They take their art to the streets, stitching cosies from everything to bike racks to entire buses.’
   • ‘They're fashionable toilet paper cozies.’
   • ‘Use denim or any scraps of fabric you have to create a lovely upcycled phone cosy.’
   • ‘This lovely, quirky toilet roll cosy has been hand crocheted using high quality pure wools.’
2. 1.2North American An insulating sleeve used to keep a canned or bottled drink cold.
   ‘guests received beer cozies at the end of the evening’
   More example sentences

   • ‘Get the kind of drink cozies that you put in the freezer.’
   • ‘You open bottles, clink them against your friends' bottles, and dress them up in little cozies to keep them cold.’
   • ‘The studios have designed these humorous and manly cozies that give your can of beer a beard.’
   • ‘All you need is a foam can cozy and a 3D rapid prototyping printer.’
   • ‘Centerpieces at each table included orchids, and peonies, and guests were later gifted beer cozies at the end of the night.’
   • ‘Does extra insulation (like a beer cozy) improve the plain metal bottle, or the insulated cup?’
   • ‘Did you know that a beer cozy can be repurposed as a cheap lens protector?’
   • ‘This neoprene insulated sleeve slides over the bottle just like a regular beer can cozy, but it also features a built-in handle and comes in two fly patterns.’

2British A canopied corner seat for two.

1informal Make (someone) feel comfortable or complacent.

1. 1.1cosy up tono object Snuggle up to.
   ‘he cosied up to the heater’
   More example sentences

   • ‘But, be very careful who you cozy up to in the process.’
   • ‘It is the temptation of the public intellectual to cozy up to that which he or she should be evaluating critically.’
   • ‘Even if you're single, you'll want to cozy up to something cute.’
   • ‘There's a pasta bar in the centre of it all, which you can cozy up to if you're by yourself.’
   • ‘With his inimitable style of cosying up to most of the families for whom he irons clothes, he has made himself indispensable to many households.’
   • ‘Conservative nutritionists caution that more long-term research is needed before they'll cozy up to all these claims.’
   • ‘One blond girl is cozying up to her, and the other identical-looking one is trying to, but Reba is holding her away, squishing her face.’
   • ‘With the moon cozying up to Venus in a special way this week, you could be thinking about making a big move too.’
   • ‘I cozy up to the new Miss Canada International and ask her what incredible prizes she has won.’
   • ‘Clearly, she gets a lot of love, and she cozies up to you on impact.’
2. 1.2cosy up tono object Ingratiate oneself with.
   ‘he decided to resign rather than cosy up to hardliners in the party’
   More example sentences

   • ‘He and his father have always shown a preference to cozying up to the establishment rather than actually helping people.’
   • ‘‘It is a world in which refuse collectors cosy up to barristers, split along moral lines rather than social ones’.’
   • ‘What we've seen here plays right into public concerns about whether or not reporters are mostly focused on serving the public's need to know, or cozying up with sources.’
   • ‘Meanwhile, he says anyone who surfs the Web should be worried about how Internet service providers are cozying up to law-enforcement authorities on this case.’
   • ‘Yet network managers don't seem to mind, and many politicians across the narrow liberal-to-conservative spectrum never seem to tire of cozying up to him on the air.’
   • ‘Is this an act of atonement or a cozying up to future journalists?’
   • ‘Ironically, a cozying up to the current government may have led to the perceived malaise.’
   • ‘it has been on the air for nearly two years, but only recently have people not directly involved in the program become aware of the extent to which technology is allowing him to cozy up to local listeners.’
   • ‘In fact, the more a politician cozies up to the United Nations, the less I like him.’
   • ‘Is there something to the charge that he cozies up to people in power?’