make one's hair stand on end

Idioms  

1. Also, make one's hair curl. Terrify one, as in The very thought of an earthquake makes my hair stand on end, or Diving off a high board is enough to make my hair curl. The first term, first recorded in 1534, alludes to goose pimples prompted by fear, which cause the hairs around them to stand up. The variant dates from the mid-1900s.

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Example Sentences

And something did happen, though not of a character to make one's hair stand on end.

From The Golden Age in Transylvania by Jókai, Mór

How often was I not in embarrassments enough to make one's hair stand on end, badly in debt.

From Withered Leaves. Vol. III.(of III) A Novel by Gottschall, Rudolf von

Today the mox progeniem daturos vitiosiorem would make one's hair stand on end.

From Memoirs To Illustrate The History Of My Time Volume 1 by Cole, John William

The others were telling stories, calculated to make one's hair stand on end, about signs and warnings, and their horrible fulfillment.

From The Young Mountaineers Short Stories by Fraser, Malcolm

It seemed as if the ship must break into a thousand pieces, a thing most terrible to see and to hear, and fit to make one's hair stand on end.

From Celebrated Travels and Travellers Part I. The Exploration of the World by Leigh, Dora