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afraid of one's own shadow



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Idioms and Phrases

Very timid and fearful, as in Richard constantly worries about security; he's afraid of his own shadow . This hyperbole has been used in English since the early 1500s, and some writers believe it originated in ancient Greece.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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