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Living daylight

Posted by ESC on May 10, 2009 at 17:37

In Reply to: Living daylight posted by Di Feldtmann on May 10, 2009 at 13:45:

: Where does 'to frighten the living daylight out of you' come from?

Frighten or beat the living daylights out of you. Probably from "daylights" for eyes. Earliest citation 1884. (Another meaning for daylight - windowpane.) "Dictionary of American Regional English," Volume II, D-H, by Frederic G. Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall (1991, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and London, England). Page 19.

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