goosebumps

goosebumps (n.)also goose-bumps, "peculiar tingling of the skin produced by cold, fear, etc.; the sensation described as \\'cold water down the back\\'" [Farmer], 1859, from goose (n.) + bump (n.). So called because the rough condition of the skin during the sensation resembles the skin of a plucked goose. Earlier in the same sense was goose-flesh (1803) and goose-skin (1761; as goose\\'s skin 1744).