get cold feet—lose one’s courage or nerve:
- Do you think he is just getting cold feet, or do you think it’s more than that? We are afraid he just won’t show up at the church.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase cool one’s heels—(coll.) be kept waiting by smb. in authority, as for an appointment (also: kick one’s heels):
- The doctor kept her cooling her heels for almost an hour.
hotfoot it—leave in great haste; walk or run hurriedly:
- The camp staff expects that once the shouts of the campers fill the hollow, the bear will hotfoot it out of there.
Note: The expression is not equivalent in meaning to the phrase foot it—(coll., also: leg it) walk; go on foot:
- Several of the wagons became sloughed and the passengers were compelled to “foot it” to town.