scare someone out of their wits
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
scare someone out of their wits
- (transitive, informal) To frighten someone to such an extent that they behave irrationally.
- He scared me out of my wits, sneaking up behind me in the dark like that.
- Synonym: frighten someone out of their wits
See also
- scare the pants off of
- have one's wits about one
Further reading
- “scare someone out of their wits” in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary.
- “frighten scare sb out of their wits” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.