quake in one's boots

• shake in one's boots, quake in one's shoes, shake in one's shoes

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quake in one's boots (third-person singular simple present quakes in one's boots, present participle quaking in one's boots, simple past and past participle quaked in one's boots)

1. (informal, idiomatic) To be very frightened, scared, or nervous.

   The thought of climbing that high had him quaking in his boots.

• Often used sarcastically to mean that something is not at all frightening, e.g. The little dog thought it had me quaking in my boots with all the barking it was doing.