cold sweats

Noun

cold sweat (plural cold sweats)

1. Perspiration which feels chilly to the person perspiring, and which indicates debilitating illness, shock, or the experiencing of an intense emotion such as despair, anxiety, or, especially, fear.
   • . . .
     And the dead were at my feet.
     The cold sweat melted from their limbs,
     Ne rot, ne reek did they;
     The look with which they look'd on me,
     Had never pass'd away.1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, part 4