blood-chilling

adjective

blood-chill·​ing

: arousing fright or horror : blood-curdling

a blood-chilling scream

But suddenly there is shouting, … a blood-chilling, animal bellowing that booms through the great clamor …

—Michael Kenyon, Gourmet, November 1985

Such blood-chilling questioning of its residents terrified the town …

—Alice Walker, In Love & In Trouble, 1973

Word History

First Known Use

1632, in the meaning defined above

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