heebie-jeebies

American  

[hee-bee-jee-beez] / ˈhi biˈdʒi biz /

noun

(used with a plural verb)

1. Usually the heebie-jeebies a condition of extreme nervousness caused by fear, worry, strain, etc.; the jitters; the willies.

   Just thinking about ghosts gives me the heebie-jeebies.

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heebie-jeebies British  

/ ˈhiːbɪˈdʒiːbɪz /

plural noun

1. slang apprehension and nervousness

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Etymology

Origin of heebie-jeebies

An Americanism dating back to 1920–25; rhyming compound coined by W. De Beck (1890–1942), American comic-strip cartoonist

Explanation

If you have the heebie-jeebies, you're worried, anxious, or jumpy. Haunted houses, for example, give many people the heebie-jeebies, while others get the heebie-jeebies from circus clowns. If something gives you the heebie-jeebies, it makes you very nervous. The word is especially useful when something — or someone — gives you the creeps, but you can't put your finger on exactly what it is that makes you so jittery. Heebie-jeebies first appeared in print in the U.S., originally in a 1923 "Barney Google" cartoon by Billy DeBeck, who is also credited with inventing the word horsefeathers, which means "nonsense."

Example Sentences

I’d love to understand why horror films that I find excruciatingly dull give others the heebie-jeebies.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2026

You’re living with a large cushion that should ease any of those financial heebie-jeebies.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 29, 2026

Darwin’s confessed heebie-jeebies about the unmolested eye hints that this response is related to something primal.

From Salon • Sep. 18, 2025

Yes, they are possessed of 15 MPs - just 2.3% of Parliament's total - but a string of by-election victories over the Conservatives has given dozens of Tories a blast of the heebie-jeebies.

From BBC • Sep. 26, 2023

He had the jitters and the heebie-jeebies, a feeling deep in his stomach that something was entirely wrong.

From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman