jitters (n.)

"extreme nervousness," 1925, American English, perhaps an alteration of dialectal chitter "tremble, shiver," from Middle English chittern "to twitter, chatter."

Entries linking to jitters

jitter (v.)

"to move agitatedly," 1931, American English, of unknown origin; see jitters. Related: Jittered; jittering.

jitterbug (n.)

popular type of fast swing dance, 1938, American English, from "Jitter Bug," title of a song recorded by Cab Calloway in 1934. Probably the literal sense is "one who has the jitters" (see jitters; for second element see bug (n.) in the slang "person obsessed with" sense). Another sense current about this time was "swing music enthusiast" (1937). As a verb from 1938.

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updated on December 29, 2012

Definitions of jitters from WordNet

jitters (n.)

extreme nervousness;

Synonyms: heebie-jeebies / screaming meemies

From wordnet.princeton.edu, not affiliated with etymonline.

Dictionary entries near jitters

jirgah

jism

jitney

jitter

jitterbug

jitters

jittery

jive

jivey

Joachim