jump out of one’s skin—
1. get a sudden unpleasant shock or surprise:
- He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw two rats in the wreckage of what a few years before had been a kitchen.
2. show extreme delight, excitement, or high spirits:
- Scipio was ready to jump out of his skin for joy at the sight of me.
3. (of a horse) put all of one’s energy into a race:
- The horse looked in splendid condition, “fit to jump out of his skin,” to use a racing term.
run out of one’s skin — = jump out of one’s skin 3:
- The word from Ireland this week is that this horse is running out of its skin over the flat.
Note:
a) Neither expression correlates in meaning with the phrase play out of one’s skin—give an outstanding performance:
- He then played out of his skin for the remainder of the tournament, made a couple of mistakes … but was still a force to be reckoned with.
b) Neither expression correlates in meaning with the phrase cast its skin—(of a reptile) shed its skin:
- About the middle of the month [September] the common snake sloughs or casts its skin.