heebie-jeebies

the heebie-jeebies

An extreme or acute sensation of fear, apprehension, worry, or anxiety. Often used with "get" or "give." I always get the heebie-jeebies when I walk through a graveyard. All these ghost stories are giving me the heebie-jeebies.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

heebie-jeebies

and heeby-jeebies (ˈhibiˈdʒibiz)
n. an extreme case of anxiety or fear. I have the heebie-jeebies whenever I go to the dentist.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

heebie-jeebies

Anxiety or fear. Records indicate that “heebie-Jeebies” first appeared in print in a 1923 newspaper cartoon by one Billy DeBeck, in which a character says, “You dumb ox—why don't you get that stupid look offa your pan—you gimme the heeby jeebys!” The spelling changed over the years, as witnessed by its inclusion a year later in the “Alabamy Bound” popularized by the Paul Whitman Orchestra: “I'm Alabamy bound, there'll be no heebie-jeebies hanging 'round . . .”
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • heeby
  • heeby-jeebies
  • the heebie-jeebies
  • give (one) the heebie-jeebies
  • the shock of (one's) life
  • the shock of life
  • the fright of (one's) life
  • the fright of your life
  • give (someone) the fright of (someone's) life
  • get the fright of (one's) life
References in periodicals archive
The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's is much more than this.
Other venues definitely taking part include The Krazy House, the Picket, Metro, the Rat and Parrott, Zanzibar, Heebie-Jeebies, Korova, Pan Am, Babycreamand Blue.
And you better believe that nothing gives an LCN employee the heebie-jeebies more than facility vulnerability.
JANUARY Some bothersome stuff has been clinging to you like a bad case of heebie-jeebies. But this is the perfect time to start fresh--it is a new year, after all.
As the convoluted story wore on, Quebec's film milieu developed a case of the heebie-jeebies. Even some diehard critics of Losique and his team flipped from shaudenfreude to dread that a horribly embarrassing mess loomed on the horizon.
Polls found that while people generally were more favorable toward gays, gay marriage gave them the heebie-jeebies. Hold that first thought.
Freud concludes his study by noting that a tale needs more than just the presence of particular motifs to give readers the heebie-jeebies, a point not lost on Anthony Vidler in The Architectural Uncanny (1992).
Side effects may include the blahs, hissy fits, conniptions or the heebie-jeebies."
A hangover, the result of a drinking spree, has also been called the "katzenjammers" (from the German for cat's wailing), the "DT's" (an abbreviation of the Latin "delirium tremens" - trembling delirium), the "heebie-jeebies" (from the 1923 comic strip "Barney Google") and "the screaming meemies" (origin unknown).
The story: Carol White, who lives in spooky, wraparound comfort in the San Fernando Valley, comes down with the heebie-jeebies. First the undergoes fits of coughing and finds herself gasping for breath; then she gets a nosebleed; then, while picking up the dry cleaning, she tumbles into a full-tilt seizure.
This man has always given me the heebie-jeebies, with his insidious threats delivered in his spooky voice.
To find a quicker resolution for the double-murder case that's been giving Wind Gap's residents the heebie-jeebies, police chief Bill Vickery (Matt Craven) is only too eager to pin the blame on either of the two suspects: Ann's hot-tempered father Bob (Will Chase) and Natalie's overly sensitive brother John (Taylor John Smith).
Har perils the on who people keep can't down vo ices The thought of people listening to my calls gives me the heebie-jeebies. If I have to answer my phone during a journey (my Cat-like reflexes mean it will generally ring for less than half a second) I blush apologetically, whisper, ''I'm on the train I'll call you back" and hang up before anyone notices.
The bit in the movie when George gets the heebie-jeebies always clutches at my heartstrings.
3.15PM Jeepers Creepers gal Gina Philips has the heebie-jeebies when the police think she killed her baby.