cold feet.

A loss of courage or willingness just before a planned action.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• get cold feet
• have cold feet
• give someone cold feet

On the page

He got cold feet outside the tattoo studio.

The investors had cold feet after reading the safety report.

If you develop cold feet before the jump, tell the instructor.

Usage notes

Primary category: fear. Informal; implies backing away from a commitment, unlike butterflies that need not change the decision. Fixed idiom; inflect the surrounding verb, not the core expression.