heebie-jeebies | Word of the Day

October 31, 2017 heebie-jeebies [hee-bee-jee-beez] noun 1. Slang. a condition of extreme nervousness caused by fear, worry, strain, etc.; the jitters; the willies (usually preceded by the): Just thinking about ghosts gives me the heebie-jeebies. weird words Bizarre Town Names We Couldn't Make Up language Wonderful Words We're Missing in English WORD OF THE DAY heebie-jeebies continued... QUOTES In the sudden swelling of the shadows, the dolls appeared to shift on the shelves, as if preparing to leap to the floor. Their painted eyes--some bright with points of reflected light and some with a fixed inky glare--seemed watchful and intent. I had the heebie-jeebies. Big time. -- Dean Koontz, Fear Nothing, 1998 ORIGIN The American cartoonist William ("Billy") De Beck (1890-1942) was most famous for his comic strip Take Barney Google, F'rinstance (1919), which became Barney Google and Snuffy Smith in 1934. De Beck is responsible for coining heebie-jeebies, balls of fire, and time's a-wastin. Heebie-jeebies entered English in the 20th century. MORE FROM THE WEB OTHERS ARE READING 1 Wonderful Words We're Missing in English Words from other cultures we should adopt. 2 Quotes to Help You Forgive... But maybe not forget. It's time to let it go. 3 This quiz is irresistibly ducky Plus it's far from nocent. Go for 7/7. 4 Tired Slang We Can All Stop Using Now Like all good things, it's time to retire these overused terms. 5 Creative Costumes for Language Lovers These costumes are outrageously good. © 2017 Dictionary.com, LLC. ABOUT CONTACT You are subscribed to the Word of the Day as: matzom229@gmail.com Subscriber since: September 06, 2017 Unsubscribe Dictionary.com, LLC. 555 12th Street Suite 500 Oakland CA 94607 Manage your subscription Terms & Privacy