Willies

Definitions

A feeling of nervousness or fear.

colloquial, plural, plural-only

Equivalents

Examples

“Staying in the haunted house gave me the willies.”

“Not that I'm given to that kind of thing really.... It was those damned bandages over my eyes, the medley of voices that had shouted back at me down the corridor. But I certainly was getting the willies - and once you get⟳ 'em, they grow⟳.”

“I get⟳ the willies when I see⟳ closed doors. Even at work⟳, where I am doing so well now, the sight of a closed door is sometimes enough to make⟳ me dread that something horrible is happening behind it, something that is going to affect⟳ me adversely.”

CEFR level