screaming abdabs
noun- ...not noticing the sud smells anymore or belts over my head that gave me the screaming ab-dabs when I first came in the factory at fifteen...1959, Alan Sillitoe, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, page 34:
- 1971, New Scientist, page 80, by the EBSCO Publishing Firm, Meanwhile, down the road a piece, another British firm has had an attack of the abdabs.
3 more examples
- ... Robert played all the time on his dummy keyboard and it drove Edna near mad, gave her the screaming abdabs as she put it.1986, Anthony Burgess, The Pianoplayers, page 201:
- ‘This place doesn't ‘aif give me the screaming ‘abdabs.’ ‘And how!’ I agreed. All those small creatures that had once vibrated with life, now frozen ...2003, Marian Babson, The Cat Who Wasn't a Dog:
- It's a nice night, and I’da darned sight rather take a walk out than see you work yourself into a fit of the screaming abdabs. I don't blame you, ...2004, Mary Stewart, This Rough Magic: