I want to write 'holding a cooling cup of coffee' meaning the coffee was going cold but, of course, a cooling drink is one that cools you down.

Brain in danger of exploding. Please, what is it I need to put?!



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I toyed briefly with 'encoldening' so am in grave need of assistance.

I toyed briefly with 'encoldening' so am in grave need of assistance.

How about, ' a rapidly (or slowly, if that's what you wanted to convey) cooling cup of coffee'?

I know adverbs are not to be used willy-nilly, but I think this might be the neatest solution here.

Thanks, Astrea. I think I had 'rapidly' in at one time, but it upset the rhythm of the sentence and also put the emphasis in the wrong place. At the moment, I've skipped the cooling process and the coffee is already cold, but that misses a nuance implied by 'cooling'. Gah! Think I'll make her drink it hot and hope she burns herself . . .

Gah! Think I'll make her drink it hot and hope she burns herself . . .

Lol!

Good solution from Alan - though I think in context I might well read "a cooling cup of tea" as you mean it, if the run-up to it had a sense of time passing in it, for example. It is, after all, the more direct meaning.

Good point, Emma, think I'll try rejigging the sentence to make the meaning clearer. Cheers.