the creeps

Idioms  

1. Also, the willies. A sensation of horror or repugnance, as in That weird man gives me the creeps, or I get the willies when I hear that dirge music. The first of these colloquial terms alludes to a sensation of something crawling on one's skin. Charles Dickens used it in David Copperfield (1849) to describe a physical ailment: “She was constantly complaining of the cold and of its occasioning a visitation in her back, which she called ‘the creeps.’” But soon after it was used to describe fear and loathing. The variant dates from the late 1800s, and both its allusion and origin are unclear.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

the creeps

Now Crawley is up against a New Zealand team that gives him the creeps.

From BBC ● Dec. 5, 2024

Or put more bluntly: Vance was chosen to appeal to the creeps and weirdoes.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2024

Many pointed to the Astro home monitoring robot launched in 2021 that, at $1,600, remains niche and was criticized for giving some consumers the creeps.

From Reuters ● Sep. 19, 2023

I never have felt comfortable calling myself a “professional artist” — in fact, it gives me the creeps to think of myself that way.

From New York Times ● Jul. 13, 2021

“Gives me the creeps just to think about it. He’s just the sort who always stands up in the back of the courtroom during the last five minutes of ‘Perry Mason.’”

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt