Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Slang A feeling of uneasiness or nervousness; the jitters.
Wiktionary
- n. US, idiomatic A general feeling of anxiety, fear, uneasiness, or nausea.
WordNet 3.0
- n. extreme nervousness
Etymologies
- 1923, coined by American cartoonist Billy De Beck in his comic strip Barney Google. (Wiktionary)
- Coined by William De Beck (1890-1942), American cartoonist, in his comic strip Barney Google. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And, that Kiran always looks like he's giving her the heebie-jeebies.”
“Kind of the same way that Bryan Adams 'song "Have You Ever - Really - Loved a Woman" gives me the heebie-jeebies.”
“All those Fruedian-slips showing is enough to give ya the heebie-jeebies when you start to write some thing.”
“Yes | No | Report from teufelhunden wrote 51 weeks 4 days ago cottonmouth, they still give me the heebie-jeebies.”
“And yes teufelhunden those cottonmouths always gave me the heebie-jeebies as well.”
“Her kiss with that hot guy gave me the heebie-jeebies.”
'Ugly Betty' Bites: Enjoy the best 19 quips from the best episode of the season (so far)! | EW.com
“And even though I'm currently writing my twelfth novel, the jitters and the heebie-jeebies and head-banging ohmygod/whatwasithinking/i'moutofmyfreakingmind mantra still runs through my brain.”
“Nothing beats "the heebie-jeebies you get underwater, in the dark, with this little sea monster biting you," he says.”
The Wall Street Journal: Long Arm of the Law Penalizes Texans Who Nab Catfish by Hand
“This is the sort of thing that would be giving Microsoft the heebie-jeebies.”
The Guardian: CES 2011: Motorola shows off smartphones and 'Honeycomb' tablet
“It usually only gives me the heebie-jeebies when I'm down there by myself, and it's time turn out the lights and head upstairs.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘heebie-jeebies’.
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old timey talk
Words or Sayings from the 1920's or whatever that no one really uses anymore (at least in that context).
scram, bearcat, heavens to betsy, dick, double-cross, ducky, gams, goofy, hooch, jalopy, john, joe and 174 more...
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Reduples
Go for it, brothers and sisters! I personally have been suffering long for lack of an open reduplicatives list
happy clappy, bribble-brabble, diddle-daddle, hugger-mugger, kikiriki, Bora-Bora, mahi-mahi, jingle-jangle, knick-knack paddy..., chit-chat, bon-bon, clapperclaw and 292 more...
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ghost
This is Ghost List 2 ( the kind that go 'boo!' ) :P
( open list )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/macabrephantom, spectral, specter, spectre, spooky, poltergeist, haunt, spirit, banshee, cryptic, shadow, phantasm and 311 more...
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The Storybook Words
Words from children's literature that feed young imaginations and spark a love of words and language.
peril, sparkle, fizzle, kerfuffle, lachrymose, heebie-jeebies, turtleneck, peacoat, smarmy, daffodil, snapdragon, grouch and 1 more...
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words i enjoy
wiggly-waggley, higgledy-piggledy, artsy-fartsy, clip-clop, fancy-shmancy, handy-andy, hanky-panky, heebie-jeebies, hoity-toity, hoochy koochy, hurdy-gurdy, bee's knees and 10 more...
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ecbrenner's list
flatline, luddism, apocalipstick, muttsucker, leviathan of fore..., flint, coryphaeus, donnybrook, bandwidth, bagpipe the mizen, cheesed off, asterism and 525 more...
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generationnext's Words
petulant, vehement, pensive, lascivious, vacillate, histrionic, satiated, svelte, lithe, zeitgeist, viscous, sommelier and 526 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
Pluralia Tantum
Nouns that are common in plural form but are non-existent or rarely used in singular form.
scissors, thanks, clothes, remains, tights, trousers, pants, news, billiards, means, mathematics, physics and 221 more...
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jagosaurus's favorites
Words I like mostly because of the way they sound and feel.
ticonderoga, petulance, snark, estimable, chickahominy, feline, gezellig, gneiss, shit, willy-nilly, shelter, coda and 366 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, H
hurlyburly, hurtle, hodgepodge, heartwood, hatch, halo, hooptedoodle, hacienda, hairpin, heyday, hardscrabble, hopper and 208 more...
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Double Trouble
Reduplicatives and more.
splish-splash, hip-hop, kit-kat, dingaling, hugger-mugger, even-steven, tit for tat, higgledy-piggledy, dilly-dally, boogie-woogie, knick-knack, mai tai and 131 more...
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All Those Jazz Words
Words coined or popularized during the Roaring '20s.
back-seat driver, jalopy, step on it, cop a plea, fuzz, gimmick, hijack, speakeasy, to take (someone)..., cockeyed, scofflaw, shellacked and 74 more...
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hober's Words
anglosphere, wiki, slither, cylon, satchel, faustian, ragamuffin, frak, salient, fervid, tartan, snowclone and 299 more...
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oddball
wackadoodlery.
( personal list )
related (from me):
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/onomatopoeias--1
bric-a-brac, succotash, humbucker, skedaddle, scallywag, sassafras, gadzooks, humdinger, hoity-toity, wishy-washy, namby-pamby, ding dong and 436 more...
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Nakoo's list of beautiful words.
Just about any word I like at the time.
razbliuto, anaxiphilia, lipothymous, inamorata, acushla, abulia, serendipity, alexithymia, quixotic, idiosyncratic, ad nauseam, equanimity and 305 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for heebie-jeebies.

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