heebie-jeebies
/ˌhiː.biːˈdʒiː.biːz/
heebie-jeebies noun: a general feeling of anxiety, fear, uneasiness, or nausea.
Noun
heebie-jeebies pl (plural only)
- A general feeling of anxiety, fear, uneasiness, or nausea.
- I don't mind worms, but spiders give me the heebie-jeebies.
- When I see that weird house, I get the heebie-jeebies.
- Synonyms:
- creeps, willies, collywobbles, fear
heebie-jeebies meaning in Kannada
heebie-jeebies in Kannada
- ಆತಂಕ, ಅಳುಕು, ಗಾಬರಿ, ಭಯ, ಅಪಾಯದ ನಿರೀಕ್ಷೆ, ಖಿನ್ನತೆ
Synonyms of heebie-jeebies
Forms of heebie-jeebies
| alternative form | heebee-geebees |
|---|---|
| alternative form | heebee geebees |
| alternative form | heebeegeebees |
| alternative form | heebygeebies |
| alternative form | heebee-jeebees |
| alternative form | heebee jeebees |
| alternative form | heebeejeebees |
| alternative form | heebie jeebies |
| alternative form | heebiejeebies |
| alternative form | heeby-jeebies |
| alternative form | heeby jeebies |
| alternative form | heebyjeebies |
| alternative form | heeby-jeebys |
| alternative form | heeby jeebys |
Origin of heebie-jeebies
The earliest found occurrences of spelling variants (it is not established whether the first one coined the term or committed to print an earlier oral expression): * In 1923, the spelling "heeby jeebys" was used by U.S. cartoonist Billy De Beck in his comic strip Barney Google (New York American, 26 October 1923). * In 1925, the spelling "heebee-jeebees" was used in U.S. magazine Ladies' Home Journal (Vol. 42, Part 2, p. 44). * In 1926, the spelling "heebie jeebies" was used by U.S. singer Louis Armstrong for his single "Heebie Jeebies" (written by Boyd Atkins). * In 1928, the spelling "heebee-geebees" was used in U.S. article "We All Have the Heebee-Geebees" by G. M. Keller of Swift & Company (Modern School Store, Vol. 11, p. 269 via Google Books). * In 1956, the spelling "heeby jeebies" was used by U.S. singer Little Richard on the cover of his homonymous SP record (and the hyphenated spelling "heeby-jeebies" on its vinyl disc itself).
Questions about heebie-jeebies
- What does heebie-jeebies mean?
- Heebie-jeebies means a general feeling of anxiety, fear, uneasiness, or nausea.
- What is heebie-jeebies in Kannada?
- Heebie-jeebies in Kannada is ಆತಂಕ, ಅಳುಕು, ಗಾಬರಿ. See Heebie-jeebies meaning in Kannada.
- What part of speech is heebie-jeebies?
- Heebie-jeebies is a noun.
- How do you pronounce heebie-jeebies?
- Heebie-jeebies is pronounced /ˌhiː.biːˈdʒiː.biːz/.
Words near heebie-jeebies in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: heebie-jeebies (page history and authors); heebie-jeebies (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-heebie-jeebies.wav.
Cite this entry: “heebie-jeebies.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heebie-jeebies. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.