heart misses a beat, one's
Idioms
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Also,. One is startled, frightened, or very excited. For example, Her heart missed a beat when she heard her name called out in the list of finalists, or When the bear appeared in front of us, my heart skipped a beat, or My heart stands still at the very thought of flying through a thunderstorm. All these hyperbolic expressions can also be used with make, meaning “to cause one to be startled” as in That blast from the ship's whistle made my heart skip a beat.
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.
