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Glite Dictionary
the living daylights out of

the living daylights out of

7 9.3
To frighten or hurt someone very much
  • idiom
  • NSFW
translation icon : asustar a alguien de muerte
  • Whoever she was, I must have scared the living daylights out of her.
  • scare the living daylights out of
  • beat the living daylights out of
  • scare the living daylights out of

So the police at at that checkpoint at that time managed to pick themselves off the floor and they beat the living daylights out of it.

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Examples

  • You scared the living daylights out of me.

    God's Country (2012)

  • We're going to scare the living daylights out of your parents.

    The Frighteners (1996)

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

    Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)

  • You scared the living daylights out of me!

    *batteries not included (1987)

  • Apparently he got into a heated argument and beat the living daylights out of the security detail.

    The Outsider (2015)

  • It scared the living daylights out of her.

    Lady in White (1988)

  • 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)

  • You scared the living daylights out of me with that sudden noise.

Synonyms

to scare someone to death
vsthe living daylights out of
  • Informal
59 3.7

To frighten someone very much

is a strong intensifier but does not always imply the utmost fear
to scare the hell out of
vsthe living daylights out of
  • Informal
56 6.7

To make someone very afraid

is used more widely as an emphatic phrase beyond just emotion
to scare the bejesus out of
vsthe living daylights out of
  • Informal
5 8.8

To make someone very afraid

is a general strong emphasis that need not be sudden
to scare the living daylights out of
vsthe living daylights out of
  • Informal
3 6.9

To frighten someone very much

is used more broadly with different verbs to show extreme action
to scare the life out of
vsthe living daylights out of
  • Informal
3 5.6

To make someone very afraid

is mainly an emphatic expression for strong actions not only startling
to shock the hell out of someone
vsthe living daylights out of
  • Informal
2 8.1

To surprise someone suddenly and very strongly

is focused more on causing fear or shock rather than mere surprise
to beat the daylights out of
vsthe living daylights out of
  • Offensive
1 8.6

To hit someone or something very hard and damage it

is focused on extreme fright or shock rather than on physical damage
to knock the living daylights out of
vsthe living daylights out of
  • Offensive
9.9

To hit someone very hard or to shock someone very much

is mainly an intensifier for frightening or shocking rather than physical harm

Antonyms

to calm
962 1.0

Make a person or animal less upset

to comfort
172 1.0

To make someone feel less upset or in pain

How Intense

to scare someone to death
  • Informal
59 3.7
the living daylights out of
  • NSFW
7 9.3
a lot
∞ 1.0
quite
∞ 1.0
a little
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

the living daylights out of main

Morphology

the + living + daylights + out + of

The phrase functions as an idiomatic intensifier (e.g., 'beat the living daylights out of') whose meaning 'to do something to a very great or intense degree' cannot be compositionally derived from 'living', 'daylights' and 'out of'. A B1 learner who knows the individual words would not predict this figurative intensifying sense because the literal components do not transparently combine to yield the idiomatic meaning.

Etymology

The living daylights out of may come from an old idea that 'daylights' meant a person's life or senses, like their eyes. So to scare or hit someone the living daylights out of them is to knock out their daylights, or their 'senses', and that is why the phrase means doing something very strongly.