English Language & Usage Asked by Daniel Vartanov on May 9, 2021
a troll even larger than the one they had tackled, out cold with a
bloody lump on its head
This is a quote from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter (emphasis mine). I wonder whether the two words "out cold" is an adjective or "out" is a verb? Sorry I’m really confused how to read this phrase.
The whole portion you have emphasized is an adjective phrase, an adjective clause with the subject pronoun and verb omitted; here's the full sentence as context for other readers:
Eyes watering, they saw, flat on the floor in front of them, a troll even larger than the one they had tackled, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.
You can parse this as "...they saw, ... a troll" and the extra phrases all modify the object "a troll". In the specific case you're interested in, you can imagine adding "which was", so "... they saw, ... a troll ... which was out cold with a bloody lump on its head"
"out cold" is a phrase meaning, as the comment suggests, unconscious
Correct answer by Jay Taves on May 9, 2021
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