scare the pants off (you)

to frighten you very much.

Spiders scare the pants off me.

Usage notes: also used with other verbs to emphasize an extreme reaction: Sunbathing bores the pants off me.

Hugh always beats the pants off me in tennis.

Related vocabulary: scare the hell out of you, scare you to death

• stem from something
• stem the tide
• stem to stern
• step back
• step by step
• step down
• step in
• step in the right direction
• step into shoes
• step into someone's shoes
• step into the breach
• step on it
• Step on it!
• step on someone's toes
• step on the gas
• step on toes
• step out
• step out of line
• step up
• step up a gear
• step up something
• step up to the plate
• stew in own juice
• stew in own juices
• stew in your own juice