chilled to the bone

chill (one) to the bone

1. To make or be very cold. In this usage, a pronoun does not have to be used between "chill" and "to." After shoveling snow for hours, I am just chilled to the bone. The wind from the mountain chilled us to the bone.
2. To cause one to be very scared. In this usage, a pronoun is usually used between "chill" and "to." The sight of blood just chills me to the bone.
See also: bone, chill

chilled to the bone

Of a person, very cold. After shoveling snow for hours, I am just chilled to the bone.
See also: bone, chill
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

*chilled to the bone

Fig. very cold. (*Typically: be ~; get ~.) I got chilled to the bone in that snowstorm. The children were chilled to the bone from their swim in the ocean.
See also: bone, chill
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

chilled to the bone

Also, chilled to the marrow. Extremely or bitterly cold, as in After skiing in the wind for five hours straight, I was chilled to the bone. These hyperboles replaced the earlier idea of one's blood freezing and are more picturesque than the current synonym frozen.
See also: bone, chill
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

chilled to the bone

Very cold indeed. This hyperbole for feeling cold replaces the older idea of one’s blood freezing. Thus Shakespeare wrote of Pericles, after he was shipwrecked, “A man throng’d up with chill; my veins are cold” (Pericles, 2.1). This thought persisted well into the nineteenth century, appearing in poems by Tennyson (“Till her blood was frozen slowly,” in “The Lady of Shalott”) and Lawrence Binyon (“In the terrible hour of the dawn, when the veins are cold,” in Edith Cavell).
See also: bone, chill
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • at one's leisure
  • not do (someone or oneself) any favors
  • orient
  • orient to
  • orient to (something)
  • spiff up
  • spiffed up
  • third person
  • (Is) this taken?
  • associate oneself with
References in classic literature
Some time during the night I woke up chilled to the bone and in the dark.
Arrow of Gold
THE DAUGHTER [in the space between the central pillars, close to the one on her left] I'm getting chilled to the bone. What can Freddy be doing all this time?
Pygmalion
He did not remember anything, but he did not think it strange to find himself on the sofa in his cloak and chilled to the bone. The light coming through the window seemed strangely cheerless, containing no promise as the light of each new day should for a young man.
Under Western Eyes
I was cramped by my position and chilled to the bones. When I first tried to move, the effort was so painful to me that I was obliged to desist.
The Woman in White
Chilled to the bone, soaked in rain and half empty.
KING JAMES; nations league FLAIR TO THE THRONE Forget Kenny in '81... fabulous Forrest has taken his crown
I was chilled to the bone when I heard the service was being cut back.
...but who cares for the carers? fears over funding threat to children's charity
When Sir Trevor McDonald was left chilled to the bone when he came face-to-face with William Clyde Gibson for the latest episode of ITV's Crime and Punishment.
Chilling moment death row killer tells Sir Trevor McDonald he killed DOZENS more victims: 'There were others too... they just didn't find them'; William Clyde Gibson, from South Indiana, murdered three women in cold blood and is on death row
This event, of course, is not for those of a nervous disposition - and if you dare to enter The Chambers of Horrors you can expect to be chilled to the bone!
Enjoy all the fun of Hallowe'en; MY CITY
We were chilled to the bone by wind speeds that can go up to 158km per hour and bring the temperature ten degrees below what it is at the base of the mountain ...
The best we could 'doo'
For some reason all the layers I layered up on and the coat which usually does the trick, well, didn't and I was chilled to the bone. Suffice to say everyone who encountered me throughout those 16 hours received a frosty reception as a result too.
WE'RE ALL JUST QUILTING AWAY...BUT AT LEAST WE'RE ALL NICE AND WARM! NORTHERN FASHION
So used to experiencing unnatural events and unexplained phenomena, he sounds almost matter of fact when explaining away the strange noises and freaky encounters he's had in the Treharris manor, things which would make the rest of us chilled to the bone.
'I sort of got used to living with ghosts' FEATURE From phantom footsteps to ghostly sightings in the garden, the man who called Llancaiach Fawr Manor home talks about living with ghosts for more than three decades to a positively petrified Joanne Ridout..
So used to experiencing unnatural events and unexplained phenomena, he sounds almost matter of fact when explaining away the strange noises and freaky encounters he's had at Llancaiach Fawr Manor House, things which would make the rest of us chilled to the bone.
'There's no way I would spend the night on my own again!' From phantom footsteps to ghostly sightings in the garden, the man who called Llancaiach Fawr Manor home talks about living with ghosts for more than three decades to a positively petrified Joanne Ridout
He was chilled to the bone when he read the victim impact statements."
Ex teacher,74,who assaulted teenage boys in 1980s jailed
But, and you will have to forgive me, I light up my portable propane heater and wait all cozy and happy while my partners are mostly shivering with snot-frozen faces while being chilled to the bone. The use of a propane heater is something I started several seasons ago, and for the most part I do not believe they negatively affect deer moving in close proximity to my blind.
My christmas wish
Rose Leslie may be feeling the heat in The Great Fire but she was chilled to the bone filming in a haunted former prison.
Great Fire gave me big chills; THRONES ACTRESS IS SPOOKED ON SET; Rose shivers in haunted prison