scared to death


scared to death

Very severely frightened or worried. Hyperbolically alludes to having been frightened so badly as to have died from it. I was scared to death when I thought I heard footsteps on the staircase when no one else was home. We were scared to death when we woke up to the sound of the howler monkeys. We had no idea what it was coming from. I'm scared to death that the tests are going to come back positive.See also: death, scare