Heebie-jeebies (idiom)
Heebie-jeebies or Heebie Jeebies is an American English idiom used to describe a particular type of anxiety usually related to a certain person or place. For example, "He gives me the heebie jeebies," or in other words "He makes me uncomfortably nervous." It can also refer to a particular form of intense apprehension, verging on horror. The phrase is often used to indicate that the speaker cannot determine what exactly is making him or her apprehensive, only that something is. Its origins are almost certainly from Scotland where the phrase 'It geez me the heebie jeebies' where to this day people use this phrase.
Origins[edit]
The term appears to share a similarity to earlier rhyming phrases, such as hocus-pocus and mumbo-jumbo and the bee's knees, and is widely attributed to Billy DeBeck, citing a 1923 cartoon of his in the October 26 edition of the New York American:[1][self-published source?]
You dumb ox – why don't you get that stupid look offa your pan – you gimme the heeby jeebys!
References[edit]
- ↑ Gary Martin. "The meaning and origin of the expression: Heebie-jeebies". The Phrase Finder. Gary Martin. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
- Zimmer, Ben (July 29, 2015). "How Did We Get the "Heebie-Jeebies"?". vocabulary.com. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
- "Heebie-jeebies definition and meaning". Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
- "Definition of Heebie-jeebies". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
External links[edit]
- Error creating thumbnail: The dictionary definition of heebie-jeebies at Wiktionary
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