Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To cause to fear; frighten; terrify; make afraid.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb to imbue with
fear ; toaffright ; toterrify .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English aferen ("to frighten, terrify"), from Old English āfǣran ("to terrify, dismay"), from ā- (perfective prefix) + fǣran ("to frighten; to devour, raven").
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Examples
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Unfamiliar territory is always scary for those most prone to afear response
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HOMOGEN-EITY. and the face in the treebark feigns afear.
Finnegans Wake 2006
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He said people don’t want run for office because they are afear.
Think Progress » O’Reilly Said He Had Trouble Booking Blog Segment, Actually Turned Guests Away 2005
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i love how they highlighted the metal detailing on the facade in gold paint, though i was afear ...
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