scared out of my seven senses
Preserved but no longer current.
According to ancient teaching the soul of man, or his "inward holy body,** is compounded of the seven properties which are under the influence of the seven planets. Fire animates, earth gives the sense of feeling, water gives speech, air gives taste, mist gives sight, flowers give hearing, the south wind gives smelling. Hence the seven senses are animation, feeling, speech, taste, sight, hearing, and smelling (see Ecclus. xvii, 5).
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “scared out of my seven senses” mean?
According to ancient teaching the soul of man, or his "inward holy body,** is compounded of the seven properties which are under the influence of the seven planets. Fire animates, earth gives the sense of feeling, water gives speech, air gives taste, mist gives sight, flowers give hearing, the south wind gives smelling. Hence the seven senses are animation, feeling, speech, taste, sight, hearing, and smelling (see Ecclus. xvii, 5).
Is “scared out of my seven senses” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.