<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> Look up heebie - jeebies in Wiktionary, the free dictionary . </Td> </Tr> <P> Heebie - jeebies or Heebie Jeebies is an American English idiom used to describe a particular type of anxiety usually related to a certain person or place . For example, "He gives me the heebie jeebies," or in other words "He makes me uncomfortably nervous ." It can also refer to a particular form of intense apprehension, verging on horror . The phrase is often used to indicate that the speaker cannot determine what exactly is making him or her apprehensive, only that something is . </P> <P> The term appears to share a similarity to earlier rhyming phrases, such as hocus - pocus and mumbo - jumbo and the bee's knees . </P> <P> The term is sometimes attributed to Billy DeBeck, citing a 1923 cartoon of his in the October 26 edition of the New York American: </P>

Where does the phrase heebie jeebies come from