screaming fantods

screaming fantods

old-fashioned Extreme disquiet of the body and mind; anxious or nervous unease. My poor mother was afflicted with the screaming fantods for the rest of her life following the accident. Just thinking about going out on a stage in front of hundreds of people to give my presentation is enough to give me the screaming fantods.
See also: fantod, scream
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

screaming fantods

and (howling) fantods
n. extreme anxiety; nervous hysteria. (Old. One might call this vintage literary mock colloquial, since it survives in the works of well-known writers and occasional literary use. The origin is unknown, but the Oxford English Dictionary lists Fantad with the same meaning, and cautiously suggests that is related to fantasy and similar words containing fan.) The afternoon’s excitement has left Lady Waddington with a case of the screaming fantods. The reviewer felt that any slang dictionary that excluded “fantods” was defective.
See also: fantod, scream
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • howling fantods
  • fantod
  • fashion
  • hatband
  • I'll be bound
  • rogues gallery
  • a rogues' gallery
References in periodicals archive
If getting up in front of a group gives you the screaming fantods, Matthews recommends looking up the local chapter of the Toastmasters Club, which helps people practice talking in front of small, supportive groups.
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It was random enough to give statisticians the screaming fantods.
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