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Glite Dictionary
to scare the living daylights out of

to scare the living daylights out of

3 6.9
To frighten someone very much
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : asustar hasta el alma
  • We're going to scare the living daylights out of your parents.
  • scare the living daylights out of people

Or it might just be that you suddenly got a bill or a diagnosis that scares the living daylights out of you.

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Examples

  • Man, you guys scared the living daylights out of me!

    Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)

  • The haunted house was designed to scare the living daylights out of all its visitors.

  • You scared the living daylights out of me.

    God's Country (2012)

  • You scared the living daylights out of me!

    *batteries not included (1987)

  • Whoever she was, I must have scared the living daylights out of her.

    The Living Daylights (1987)

  • It scared the living daylights out of her.

    Lady in White (1988)

  • Gwen, you scared the living daylights out of me.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • I was taken aback, and honestly, option #1 scared the living daylights out of me.

    Blog text (29)

  • Darling, you're going to scare the living daylights out of him.

    Miss Conception (2008)

  • I really like this song, although the first time I heard the ending, I was in the other room doing the dishes and it scared the living daylights out of me!

    Blog text (11)

Synonyms

to scare
vsto scare the living daylights out of
∞ 1.0

To make someone feel afraid or unsure of themselves

is a much stronger expression stressing very intense fear
to frighten
vsto scare the living daylights out of
540 1.0

To make someone feel afraid

is far stronger, used for extreme terror rather than ordinary fear
to terrify
vsto scare the living daylights out of
148 3.2

To make someone feel very frightened

is an informal multiword phrase rather than a single word
to spook
vsto scare the living daylights out of
97 4.8

To suddenly frighten a person or animal so they panic

is a quick startled reaction rather than prolonged intense terror
to horrify
vsto scare the living daylights out of
90 4.3

Make someone feel very shocked, afraid, or disgusted

focuses only on strong fear rather than shock plus disgust
to scare someone to death
vsto scare the living daylights out of
  • Informal
59 3.7

To frighten someone very much

is very frightening but does not suggest actual life danger
to scare the hell out of
vsto scare the living daylights out of
  • Informal
56 6.7

To make someone very afraid

is the same intensity but can be used more generally
to petrify
vsto scare the living daylights out of
7 4.8

To make someone so frightened that they cannot move or think

is intense fear that does not necessarily cause physical freezing
to scare the bejesus out of
vsto scare the living daylights out of
  • Informal
5 8.8

To make someone very afraid

is extreme fear expression but not always focused on suddenness
to scare the bejesus
vsto scare the living daylights out of
  • Informal
5 9.0

To frighten someone very much by a sudden event or loud noise

is an abrupt extreme fright form that may lack duration detail
to scare the pants off
vsto scare the living daylights out of
  • Informal
3 8.2

To frighten someone very much

is used for very strong fear but not always sudden
to put the fear of God into
vsto scare the living daylights out of
  • Informal
3 8.2

Make people very afraid and make them respect you by showing power

is pure extreme fear without implying respect or authority
to scare the life out of
vsto scare the living daylights out of
  • Informal
3 5.6

To make someone very afraid

is similar but does not always stress surprise or shock

Antonyms

to calm down
  • Informal
594 1.4

To become less angry, excited, or upset

How Scary

to terrorize
  • NSFW
145 6.7
to scare the living daylights out of
  • Informal
3 6.9
to frighten
540 1.0
to startle
131 3.7

Surface Forms

scare the living daylights out of infinitive
scared the living daylights out of past
scared the living daylights out of past participle
scaring the living daylights out of present participle
scares the living daylights out of third person singular

Morphology

scare + the + living + daylights + out + of

Although 'scare' provides the basic notion of frightening, the string 'the living daylights out of' is an idiomatic intensifier whose meaning is not compositionally predictable from 'living', 'daylights' or 'out'. A B1 learner who knows the individual words would very likely not infer the extreme, idiomatic sense ('frighten someone extremely') because 'daylights' is not used literally here and the whole chunk is language-specific.

Etymology

Scare the living daylights out of comes from an old image where the 'daylights' were the light in a person's eyes or their life, and to scare someone meant to drive that light away. So, scare the living daylights out of now means 'to frighten someone extremely'.