chill bumps n pl Also chill bugs, chilly bumps, cold-chill bumps chiefly Sth, S Midl See Map
= gooseflesh n.
1912 Montgomerian (Troy NC) 6 June [2]/1, When we came across the words “glowing inaccuracies” the chill bumps rose up by the thousands along the spinal column of this “misguided and mentally blind” “Star light” scribbler. 1931 Akron Beacon Jrl. (OH) 17 Apr 2/1, But while the professor was giving public figures chilly bumps with his learned talk on the transmutation of metals by electrical breaking down of molecular stability, Bolter was invoking pagan black art. 1932 Austin Amer. (TX) 9 Nov 12/4, [Advt:] Robes like these will warm up the “chill bumps” of early morning arising. 1940 Delta Democrat–Times (Greenville MS) 7 Jan 4/4, It’s too cold to be funny. I can’t see the keys for the chilly bumps. 1957 Alexandria Daily Town Talk (Alexandria–Pineville LA) 20 May 17/2, Louisiana College students, faculty and staff should not suffer from chill bumps next winter. c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, Chill bumps. . . Goose pimples. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. X58, When you are cold, and little points of skin begin to come on your arms and legs, you have _____) 83 Infs, Sth, S Midl, Chill bumps; AR47, Cold-chill bumps; GA59, MO9, Chilly bumps; CA106, Chill bugs. [Of all Infs responding to the question, 64% were old, 6% Black; of those giving these responses, 41% were old, 25% Black.] 1972–82 DARE File S Midl, GA, SC, Chill bumps. . . gooseflesh; eVA, Goose bumps? Chilly bumps is what we always say. 1985 Orlando Sentinel (FL) 28 May sec A 16/1, “When the president drove by, you got chill bumps,” said Lisa Confessore, 16, a tuba player with Riverview High School in Sarasota. 2000 Victoria Advocate (TX) 31 Dec 2/3, A local politician for 25 years, Hopson still gets “cold chill bumps” when he enters the Texas Capitol. 2018 Victoria Advocate (TX) 1 Apr sec C 3/5, “It gives me chill bumps,” Sparks said.
