冷
lěng
Cold food, cold manner, a cold shop
The picture The heat that was rising has all gone: no steam, no movement. 冷 is heat draining out and settling; 热 is heat rising and spreading.
Where the picture shows up in 冷
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food gone cold
菜冷了，我去热一下。
cài lěng le, wǒ qù rè yíxià
The food is cold — I'll go reheat it.
Fat setting on top of the soup into a pale skin
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cold weather
外面很冷，多穿一点。
wàimiàn hěn lěng, duō chuān yìdiǎn
It's cold outside — put on another layer.
Hands in pockets, shoulders drawn right up to the ears
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cold manner
他对我很冷。
tā duì wǒ hěn lěng
He is cold towards me.
A greeting offered, and a gaze that simply passes over it
对 A 冷 means 'cold towards A'
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slow business
今天店里很冷，没有客人。
jīntiān diàn lǐ hěn lěng, méiyǒu kèrén
The shop is dead today, no customers.
A room full of chairs with nobody sitting in any of them
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to cool down
等冷了再吃。
děng lěng le zài chī
Eat it once it's cooled.
The steam all gone and the surface of the bowl gone still
Also used like a verb, 'to cool'
All of it in one picture
冷 is the place heat has left. Gone from a bowl, the food needs reheating; gone from the air, your shoulders come up; gone from someone's manner, their eyes pass over you; gone from a shop, the customers have stopped coming; going slowly out of a dish, it becomes 'wait until it cools'.