collywobbles
UK /ˈkɒlɪwɒb(ə)lz/ · US /ˈkɑliˌwɑb(ə)lz/ noun
Forms the collywobbles
- noun A stomach ache or an upset stomach. “Petunia’s off school today with a touch of the collywobbles.”
- noun (by extension) Anxiety, fear, uneasiness. “I don’t like walking through the forest at night. It gives me the collywobbles.”
Synonyms
bellyache mulligrubs tummyache butterflies butterflies in one’s stomach creeps heebie-jeebies willies cholera morbus
Etymology
Probably from colic (“severe pains that grip the abdomen”) + wobble (“unsteady motion”). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the word derives from colly (“coal dust”) (in the sense of someone becoming ill from breathing in such dust), or that it is a corruption of cholera.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “collywobbles”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details