yikes
[yahyks]
- (an exclamation of surprise or alarm.)
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for yikes
Contemporary Examples
I did a little research and now, I mean, yikes, he's the guy that's okay with letting schools forcibly pin down autistic kids.
And could he—yikes—actually be not just inconvenienced but actually ill?
Historical Examples
Yite I yikes, and boo I yikes; and my dear papa be so very angy, when I tells him all about it.'
The Maid of SkerRichard Doddridge Blackmore
Geo had only gotten half clear of the entrance when he yelled, "Yikes," and then, "Duck!"
The Jewels of AptorSamuel R. Delany
yikes
- informal an expression of surprise, fear, or alarm
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for yikes
exclamation of alarm or surprise, by 1953; perhaps from yoicks, a call in fox-hunting, attested from c.1770. Yike "a fight" is slang attested from 1940, of uncertain connection.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper