habdabsn.
/ˈhabdabz/ slang.
Nervous anxiety, the heebie-jeebies, esp. in to give (a person) the screaming habdabs.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > fear > nervousness or uneasiness > [noun] > nervousness > (the) jitters
the jitters1929
jitterbug1934
habdabs1946
1946 Penguin New Writing 28 177 Come on, kid. This joint gives me the hab-dabs.
1962 Spectator 8 June 761/3 Treasure Island gives pleasure and excitement to some and the screaming habdabs to others.
1963 Spectator 19 July 72 A desperate tension which the slightest crisis will transform into the screaming abdabs once more.
1966 L. Davidson Long Way to Shiloh ii. 28 Uri's whimsy-shrouded secrecy, strenuously maintained throughout the journey, had already brought on a severe attack of the habdabs.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1976; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1946