scare the living daylights out ofsomeone

frighten the hell out of someone & frighten the pants off someone & frighten the living daylights out of someone & scare the living daylights out ofsomeone & scare the shit out of someone & scare the wits out of someone

to frighten someone badly, suddenly or both. (Use of

hell

and

shit

are crude.) •

These figures frighten the hell out of me.

•

The door blew shut and scared the shit out of me.

•

It takes a lot to scare the pants off a hardened criminal.