Ants in Your Pants

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Meaning:

Ants in Your Pants means to be extremely restless, not able to keep still, uneasy about something.

“Looks like you got ants in your pants?”

Origin:

This term has been around for a while, probably coming from the word Antsy which means restless and impatient in an American English dictionary in 1838.

The phrase To have ants in one's pants means “to be nervous and fidgety" it is from 1934 The Dictionary of Cliches by James Rogers, where it is said that Hugh S. Johnson, the colorful former Army general was known to say it, and made it popular.

Example:

Today we still use the saying “you got ants in your pants?” as a way to tell someone that they are being fidgety or restless, and it is noticeable. An example sentence is:

“She was very excited to be going to the party that night and had ants in her pants all day.”

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