To get cold feet
When someone gets cold feet, they become too frightened to do something that they had planned to do.
Examples:
- He was going to enter the London marathon but got cold feet.
- She got cold feet about the job interview.
- They were planning to do a parachute jump but all got cold feet.
- Are you going to make the speech, or have you got cold feet?
- I’ve always wanted to try that but then I get cold feet.
Similar words and expressions:
- Pull out
- Back out
- Back down
- Climb down
- Think better of it
- Think again
- Have second thoughts
