gooseflesh
Americannoun
Usage
What is gooseflesh? Gooseflesh is another name for goose bumps—an informal term for what happens when your hair stands up, such as when you’re cold or scared. It can also be spelled as two words: goose flesh. It’s also called goose pimples and goose skin. Technical terms for it are horripilation, piloerection, and cutis anserina. The verb horripilate means to trigger horripilation—to give someone gooseflesh, as in Horror stories have the power to horripilate the viewer. It can also mean to experience horripilation—to get gooseflesh. Another way of saying you have gooseflesh is to say that your hair is standing on end. Gooseflesh is most noticeable in places where we don’t have much hair or the hair is very fine, such as the arms and neck. Sometimes, it just appears as raised bumps on the skin. These bumps are said to resemble those on the skin of a goose that has had its feathers plucked, hence the name. Gooseflesh is most commonly associated with itds appearance due to cold or scary situations, but you can also get gooseflesh from being wowed by something, such as a beautiful singing performance. The term can be used in a figurative way to refer to such a feeling, similar to the chills. Or it can refer to a creepy feeling, as in That abandoned house gives me gooseflesh. Similar terms are the creeps, the heebie-jeebies, and the willies. Example: The kids are shivering and they have gooseflesh, but they still want to play outside in the cold.
Etymology
Origin of gooseflesh
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The movie’s writer, director and editor, Oren Peli, cleverly turns his technological shortcomings into bonuses, crafting a found-footage story of things going bump in the night with gooseflesh raising inventiveness.
From New York Times • Aug. 1, 2023
It was July, but overcast and my arms turned to gooseflesh in the breeze.
From The Guardian • Mar. 23, 2021
The last 50 pages provide plenty of twists to satisfy thrill-starved readers, but it’s the final haunting sentence that raises gooseflesh and leaves one reaching to turn up the light.
From Washington Post • Mar. 1, 2019
When it works, says Jerry Lewis, "you get gooseflesh from your fingertips to your toes."
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2017
His hair prickled, and his skin was all gooseflesh.
From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
