deer in the headlights
5
7.4
- idiom
- Informal
:
mirada de ciervo atrapado en los faros
- Rookie Vince Papale had an absolute bead on the runner, but he froze like a deer in the headlights.
- deer in the headlights look
- deer in the headlights moment
Examples
-
There seems to be good reason why a typical freshman enters a mathematics classroom and very quickly adopts a "deer-in-the-headlights" look.
Academic text (2008) -
"She was like a deer in the headlights on cross-examination," he says.
Academic text (2011) -
You have this deer-in-the-headlights quality.
-
Most of these people we now know very well, but occasionally we still run into those who have the deer-in-the-headlights look.
Blog text (27) -
My mom and dad both got deer in the headlights look on their faces.
-
The poor old lady was frozen, like a deer in the headlights.
Blog text (14) -
So he sits there with a dumb expression on his face, looking like a deer in the headlights.
Blog text (8) -
Yep, the Cardinals definitely had that bright-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look.
Blog text (33) -
Wallace freezes—a deer in the headlights.
Fiction book (1999) -
When the teacher called on him unexpectedly, he froze, looking like a deer in the headlights.
How Startled
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase evokes a literal image (a deer frozen in a vehicle's headlights) that a B1 learner who knows the words can picture, so the idea of immobility or being stunned is inferable. However, mapping that animal behavior to a human reaction (being so startled or confused that one cannot respond) relies on world/cultural knowledge and a metaphorical transfer, so the relation is only partially predictable.
Etymology
Deer in the headlights comes from a common image: a real deer on the road often freezes and stares when a car's headlights shine on it. So the phrase means 'so surprised or scared that you are unable to move or respond'.