hair standing
Follicles at attention
Hair standing describes the involuntary rising of body hair, typically from fear, cold, or intense emotion.
The full phrase is usually hair standing on end or hair standing up: The eerie silence made the hair on my neck stand up.
The sensation, called goosebumps or piloerection, is a vestigial response inherited from furrier ancestors.
That scene gave me a hair-standing-on-end moment.
- goosebumpsRaised skin from cold
- goose bumpsPrickling skin from chill
- prickleTiny sharp point
- on endVertically positioned
- chillCold sensation or relaxation
fear · static · electricity · nervous system · fright · bristle · hackles · fight or flight · shivers · tingling · spine · creepy · eerie · shock · horror · jump scare · raised · stiff
- body responsesfight, flight, shivering, freeze, goosebumps
- static electricitystatic cling, electric charge, static buildup, electrostatic, triboelectric
- shiversshiver, shivers, shudder, tremble, trembling
- reflexesreflex, reflexes, reflex action, reflex response, quick reflexes
- anxiety signspanic, nervousness, worry, worrying, trembling
hair standinglying flat
Positioned horizontally, not upright
flat hair · hair down · limp hair · pressed down · slicked back
hair, hairs, haired, hairy, hairiness, hairless, stand, stands, standing