What does "stone cold" mean?

[Abdula]

Test No. incompl/inter-18 "Hot and Cold", question 8

I ordered a coffee from the waiter but by the time it had reached me it was ......... cold.

(a) stone
(b) rock
(c) block
(d) tile

Test No. incompl/inter-18 "Hot and Cold", answer 8

I ordered a coffee from the waiter but by the time it had reached me it was stone cold.

Correct answer: (a) stone

Your answer was: n/a
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what does it mean
stone cold

[Alan]

Hi,

This means it is too cold to drink because you expect it to be warm/hot.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Saying It Twice

[Guest]

why is stone but not rock?
what's the differents? ston and rock are both cold,aren't they?

[Alan]

Hi,

Yes, they're both cold but I can't explain idioms, I'm afraid as I am sure you appreciate that it's not possible in any language. You may be interested to know that English says: stone cold meaning completely cold but rock solid meaning completely solid/hard.

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Conditionals

[casafon]

Hi Alan,
that´s very interesting with stone. Many languages have such idiomatic augmentations for cold and hot. In Italian we say something like "it makes a dog cold". Is there any idiomatic expression for hot in english?