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affright

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English afrighten, from Old English āfyrhtan, equivalent to a- +‎ fright.

Noun

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affright (countable and uncountable, plural affrights)

  1. (archaic) Great fear, terror, fright.
    • 1854, The Mysteries of a Convent, page 107:
      No one for a moment dreamed of the possible occurrence of any thing in the course of a few hours which would fill every mind with horror, and cause even the dark-hearted Martina to tremble with affright.
    • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 563:
      [] Then behold, there came up to us a huge fish, as big as a tall mountain, at whose sight we became wild for affright and, weeping sore, made ready for death, marvelling at its vast size and gruesome semblance; when lo! a second fish made its appearance than which we had seen naught more monstrous.
Synonyms
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Verb

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affright (third-person singular simple present affrights, present participle affrighting, simple past and past participle affrighted)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To inspire fright in; to frighten, to terrify.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:frighten
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English afright, from Old English āfyrht (terrified; afraid), past participle of āfyrhtan (to terrify; make afraid).

Alternative forms

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Adjective

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affright (comparative more affright, superlative most affright)

  1. afraid; terrified; frightened
    • 1641, The Whole Booke of Psalmes:
      So that thou shalt not need I say, to feare or be affright, of all the shafts that Hie by day, nor terrours of the night.
    • 1856, Mrs. S. C. Hall, Popular tales and sketches, page 29:
      “Do not be afright,” he continued, after a pause; “do not be afright, my dear young ladies, I am quite harmless—a harmless old man—I would not shed a pigeon's blood.