"This is a cold and chilling time," Representative Williams told about 500 listeners.

Any reporters who seem to be receiving favored treatment during a chilling time may be scorned as Snowbirds, after those birds like juncos or fieldfare seen mainly in winter.

She has been like a silent-film star, lacking a voice in this chilling time when the Bush administration has Photoshopped the Constitution, portrayed critics as traitors, and spurred terrorism with a misconceived and mismanaged war in Iraq.

Lemon Verbena Syrup Total time: 45 minutes plus chilling time 1 bottle light, fruity white wine, like gewurztraminer or riesling 3 cups water 1 cup sugar 1 cup fresh lemon verbena leaves, lightly packed.

Not everybody is quite so fanatical, and you will need to check your own ice-cream machine to see what kind of chilling time is involved.

A shortcut to classic tiramisu, this decadent treat needs only one-third of the chilling time.

If a shorter chilling time is desired - for drinks, say - the machine must be turned off manually.

-Lu Xun This is a depressing and chilling time for most Chinese writers, a period when they dare not challenge the Government and must resignedly leave their best manuscripts in their desk drawers.

So I whirled them with the onion in the blender, gazpacho style, adding ice cubes along with the broth to eliminate the chilling time.

("Prep time: five minutes, plus chilling time.")