Quake in one's boots

　　Also, shake in ones boots; quake or shake like a leaf. Bothquakeand shake here mean tremble. These idioms were preceded bythealliterative phrase shake in ones shoes in the late 1800s.Asimilar expression was used by Chaucer, who put it as quake likeanaspen leaf, a particularly apt comparison since aspen leaveshaveflattened stems that cause the leaves to quiver in thegentlestbreeze.

　　eg: The very thought of a hurricane blowing in makes me quakeinmy boots.

　　Note:

　　Quake in ones boots和shake likealeaf的意思都是害怕得發抖。

這個用法源於十七世紀末的頭韻短語shake in onesshoes。英國詩人喬叟曾說過quakelike an aspen leaf，因為楊樹葉的葉柄是扁平的，稍有微風便會擺動。

　　例：一想到颶風可能隨時來襲我就不寒而慄。 （實習編輯：顧萍）