waterfright

English

Alternative forms

• water-fright, water fright

Etymology

From water +‎ fright. Compare Old English wæterfyrhtness (“fear of water, hydrophobia”).

Noun

waterfright (countable and uncountable, plural waterfrights)

1. (rare, nonstandard) A fear of water; aquaphobia.
   • 1927, William Ellery Leonard, The Locomotive-God, page 279:

     Possibly the foundation was subconscious memories of two water-frights, one on the ocean at six, one on a pond at thirteen ; but these were in themselves unimportant; and I have found, in my subconscious, few ideational or emotional associations.

   • 2010, Frank J. Lipp, The Mixe of Oaxaca: Religion, Ritual, and Healing:

     Others describe water fright as a condition marked by aversion to being bathed, cold, damp skin,and hyperkinesis, and yet others by fever and cold sweating even though the child is bundled and placed in the sun.

   • 2014, Joan Price, Do It Yourself Dog Grooming, page 4:

     Leaving your dog sitting in dirty water will get its ears acclimatized to the sound of running water and kill this water fright it has.

   • 2018, Garry W. Trompf, Gunner B. Mikkelsen, Jay Johnston, The Gnostic World:

     By doing so, he wanted to produce a waterfright in Truman to prevent him from crossing the sea behind which he could find an exit from the false world.

   • 2019, Stephen Graham, The Gentle Art of Tramping, page 81:

     However, once you get the water-fright it is almost incurable, and perhaps not worth writing about.

Synonyms

• hydrophobia
• water-fear

References

• “waterfright”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC. (as "water-fright")