"make someone's hair stand on end" meaning in English

See make someone's hair stand on end in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: makes someone's hair stand on end [present, singular, third-person], making someone's hair stand on end [participle, present], made someone's hair stand on end [participle, past], made someone's hair stand on end [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|<,,made>}} make someone's hair stand on end (third-person singular simple present makes someone's hair stand on end, present participle making someone's hair stand on end, simple past and past participle made someone's hair stand on end)
  1. (informal) To frighten or scare someone. Tags: informal Related terms: raise someone's hackles, set someone's teeth on edge, stand on end Translations (Translations): faire dresser les cheveux sur la tête (French), sprawiać, że włosy stają dęba [imperfective] (Polish), sprawić, że włosy stają dęba [perfective] (Polish), poner el vello de punta (Spanish)

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "makes someone's hair stand on end",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "making someone's hair stand on end",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made someone's hair stand on end",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made someone's hair stand on end",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "<,,made>"
      },
      "expansion": "make someone's hair stand on end (third-person singular simple present makes someone's hair stand on end, present participle making someone's hair stand on end, simple past and past participle made someone's hair stand on end)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              64,
              89
            ]
          ],
          "text": "That scene in the movie where the killer is stalking his victim made my hair stand on end.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              92,
              100
            ],
            [
              102,
              119
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024 October 7, Philip Oltermann, “Germans decry influence of English as ‘idiot’s apostrophe’ gets official approval”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "A commentator in the tabloid Bild said seeing signs like “Harald’s Eck” (“Harald’s Corner”) made his “hair stand on end”, and that the proper use of the genitive form would be bemoaned by lovers of the German language.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To frighten or scare someone."
      ],
      "id": "en-make_someone's_hair_stand_on_end-en-verb-A45K-Qb3",
      "links": [
        [
          "frighten",
          "frighten"
        ],
        [
          "scare",
          "scare"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) To frighten or scare someone."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "raise someone's hackles"
        },
        {
          "word": "set someone's teeth on edge"
        },
        {
          "word": "stand on end"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "faire dresser les cheveux sur la tête"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "sprawiać, że włosy stają dęba"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "sprawić, że włosy stają dęba"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "poner el vello de punta"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "make someone's hair stand on end"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "makes someone's hair stand on end",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "making someone's hair stand on end",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made someone's hair stand on end",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "made someone's hair stand on end",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "<,,made>"
      },
      "expansion": "make someone's hair stand on end (third-person singular simple present makes someone's hair stand on end, present participle making someone's hair stand on end, simple past and past participle made someone's hair stand on end)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "raise someone's hackles"
    },
    {
      "word": "set someone's teeth on edge"
    },
    {
      "word": "stand on end"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              64,
              89
            ]
          ],
          "text": "That scene in the movie where the killer is stalking his victim made my hair stand on end.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              92,
              100
            ],
            [
              102,
              119
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024 October 7, Philip Oltermann, “Germans decry influence of English as ‘idiot’s apostrophe’ gets official approval”, in The Guardian:",
          "text": "A commentator in the tabloid Bild said seeing signs like “Harald’s Eck” (“Harald’s Corner”) made his “hair stand on end”, and that the proper use of the genitive form would be bemoaned by lovers of the German language.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To frighten or scare someone."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "frighten",
          "frighten"
        ],
        [
          "scare",
          "scare"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) To frighten or scare someone."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "faire dresser les cheveux sur la tête"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "sprawiać, że włosy stają dęba"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "sprawić, że włosy stają dęba"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "poner el vello de punta"
    }
  ],
  "word": "make someone's hair stand on end"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-08-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-08-05 using wiktextract (872fc7b and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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