heeby

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.

heeby-jeebies

verb
See heebie-jeebies
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:
  • heebie-jeebies
  • 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
I am hoping to help Caesar because Jim's signature block continues to give me the heeby jeebies.
Pause for thought
But it wasn't the supposed communication from beyond the grave that the various spiritualist followers took succour from which gave me the heeby jeebies.
A grave situation; ON THE BOX
When she talks about the State having a role in family life ("For me, it's not a question of when we intrude on family life but how and when.") I get the heeby jeebies.
Other ways to aid young
So when she went shopping with her boyfriend Paul last night and he pointed out, (quite innocently), that she'd missed something off her list, she took a heeby jeeby.
Confessions of Lisa Marshall
but since her propulsion to superstardom just the sound of that raucous, grating voice gives me the heeby jeebies.
Carole Malone's column: What a noisy Barker
This time, the heeby jeebies are provided by a family of furless werecats that can change their shape to look like humans and must drink the life force (whatever that is) of virgins to survive.
Filmguide
Rod Hamdallah, Amazing Heeby Jeebies, The Dyes: 8 p.m.
Dave Eno: 7 p.m. Friday, July 26, at FoxFire, 17 W. State St., Geneva. Free. (63
Heeby jeebies aside, I was oddly compelled to watch the lung inflation and intestine unravelling.
Paul English: The power of the gory; Anatomy for Beginners, C4, Thursday
When she talks about the State having a role in family life - 'For me, it's not a question of when we intrude on family life but how and when' - I get the heeby jeebies.
The State should know its place