Idioms

abdabs

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give (one) the screaming abdabs

To cause one to feel very anxious, uneasy, or annoyed. The origin of the word "abdabs" is unknown, though it is generally associated with feelings of anxiety. No, we're actually driving there because the thought of flying gives my wife the screaming abdabs. Threaten them with legal action then—that should give them the screaming abdabs and get them to stop illegally using our material. I hate having these medical tests done because waiting for the results gives me the screaming abdabs.
See also: abdabs, give, scream
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

give someone the screaming abdabs

induce an attack of extreme anxiety or irritation in someone.
Abdabs (or habdabs ) is mid 20th-century slang whose origin is unknown. The word is sometimes also used to mean an attack of delirium tremens.
See also: abdabs, give, scream, someone
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
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References in periodicals archive
"I find it difficult some days - I have the screaming abdabs occasionally but you have to get on with it and get over it.
Your Life: Life halved when I Went blind..I had to find things to fill it; Exclusive Rosemary Smyth got an eye infection when she returned from a trip to Africa, she was later diagnosed with AMD a condition which is the leading cause of blindness in Ireland
Vince first heard Alison sing with an R&B band called The Screaming Abdabs in Southend FC social club.
The big interview: We haven't spoken for for 16 years; Sevendays joins Yazoo at emotional reunion
They called their band architectural Abdabs. 1965: Nick Banks, 39, drummer with Pulp, whose hits include Common People and Do You Remember the First Time?
Anniversaries
So the more bizarre,deadly, tropical, disfiguring and downright stomach- churning a condition is, the more likely it is to give the public a case of the screaming abdabs -so on the front page it goes.
David BANKS: Danger of losing our sense of proportion
Otherwise he may initiate the kind of sexual behaviour that you associate with abuse, and, instead of great pleasure, give you the screaming abdabs.
Virginia Ironside's advice column
Mainland Britain was once a shining example of how to stand up to terrorists like the IRA without getting the screaming abdabs.
the pensioner; OPINION
Music: I rather favoured the Screaming Abdabs until they all choked on their own vomit at the Plumpton Rockfest in 1987.
Supergroup the answer to alarming lack of street cred
Look at Brian Wilson, the Beach Boy who surprised his surfing bandmates by ditching the surf twang and heading out on some celestial ocean of the mind involving sandpits, firemen's helmets and screaming abdabs.
Big World Of Rock: When the tunes send you loony
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