white as a sheet

Idioms  

1. Very pale in the face, as in She was white as a sheet after that near encounter. This simile, dating from about 1600, survives despite the fact that bedsheets now come in all colors.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

white as a sheet

He was turned white as a sheet by Dennis Taylor in the 1985 black-ball final, then turned over by a Yorkshireman when Bradford's Joe Johnson triumphed a year later.

From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026

When Cohen countered that perhaps Weisselberg should lay out the money himself, “Weisselberg went white as a sheet — like he’d seen a ghost,” he writes.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 5, 2020

When he leaves, Frederic sits down next to me, white as a sheet.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 4, 2016

I attempted to pose this very scenario to one of my granddaughters for her suggested counsel, but she just turned white as a sheet and fled from the room, the poor thing.

From New York Times ● Feb. 17, 2014

Mary Toy had turned white as a sheet.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

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