View synonyms for willies

willies

[ wil-eez ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, (used with a plural verb)

Usually the willies. nervousness or fright; the jitters; the creeps:
That horror movie gave me the willies.

willies

/ ˈwɪlɪz /

the willies slang.
nervousness, jitters, or fright (esp in the phrase give ( or get ) the willies )

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Origin of willies¹

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900; origin obscure; -s ³

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Origin of willies¹

C20: of unknown origin

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see under the creeps .

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The list includes 476 male Willies and 192 females; 183 girl Ollies and 63 boys.

The 'Willies,' by the way, seem to be especially inspiring to the Scottish balladists.

But he was faithful in echoing Willies sentiments on any and every occasionnoticeably at chicken time.

And the stars make me lonely, and the prairie wind sometimes gives me the willies!

The idea of one of these New York Willies doing the sleuth act and tagging her to the train!

It almost gave him the “Willies”, their remote, peculiar sky-glow, as if afar–afar–they were seeing things.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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