In een kramp schieten
English translation: this scared them stiff / scared them out of their wits
| GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| 17:15 Mar 23, 2023 |
| Dutch to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - History / Academia | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||
|  Selected response from: Barend van Zadelhoff Netherlands Local time: 15:29 | ||||
Grading comment
| |||||
| Summary of answers provided | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | scared them stiff / scared them out of their wits |
|
| Summary of reference entries provided | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek |
|
| Discussion entries: 12 | |
|---|---|
Answers
17 hrs confidence: 
| schoten in een kramp scared them stiff / scared them out of their wits Explanation: Daarop schoot een deel van het lerarenkorps in een kramp This scared some members of the teaching staff stiff / out of their wits It is a situation in which they suddenly don't know what to do anymore, right? scare out of one's wits scare (one) out of (one's) wits To shock or frighten one very suddenly or severely. (Hyperbolically alludes to scaring one so badly that they lose their sanity.) Don't sneak up on me like that, you scared me out of my wits! That car accident seems to have scared Janet out of her wits. She's still shaken by it. See also: of, out, scare, wit scare out of one's wits Also, frighten out of one's wits; scare stiff or silly or to death or the living daylights out of or the pants off . Terrify, make one panic, as in When the lights went out, she was scared out of her wits, or I was scared stiff that I would fail the driver's test. The first of these hyperbolic terms, scare out of one's wits, is the oldest and, like silly, suggests one is frightened enough to lose one's mind. The verb scare dates from about 1200, and out of one's wits was first recorded in William Tyndale's translation of the Bible in 1526 (I Corinthians 14:23): "Will they not say that ye are out of your wits?" They were first put together in 1697, the same period from which came scare out of one's seven senses, a usage now obsolete. The variant using daylights, which sometimes occurs without living, dates from the 1950s. Daylights at one time referred to the eyes but here means "vital organs." Frighten to death was first recorded in Charles Dickens's Barnaby Rudge (1840) and scare to death probably appeared about the same time. However, to death used as an intensifier dates from the 1500s. These terms allude to the fact that a sudden fright can precipitate cardiac arrest. Scare stiff, first recorded in 1905, alludes to the temporary paralysis that can accompany intense fear. For the last variant, see also under pants off. https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/scare out of one's wits |
| ||
Grading comment
| |||
Notes to answerer
| |||
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | |||
Reference comments
9 mins peer agreement (net): +2 |
| Reference: Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek Reference information: plotseling verstijven door psychische spanning; ook: plotseling heel heftig reageren op iets https://anw.ivdnt.org/article/in%20een%20kramp%20schieten |
| ||
Note to reference poster
| |||
Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question. You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy. KudoZ™ translation helpThe KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.
See also: Search millions of term translations Your current localization setting
English
Select a language Close search
| |||
