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

“I’m looking at this from a prosecutor’s standpoint — this bill strengthens California law and gives us the felony hammer to prosecute the creeps that are preying on teenagers,” she said in a statement.

From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2025

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

From BBC • Dec. 5, 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

Basements give her the creeps; plus, a property manager told her the floor had been torn up.

From Salon • Nov. 17, 2022

It gave me the creeps, helping Grandpa slip his pillow sham of roses under Granny’s head.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns