scare

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /skɛə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /skɛɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (dialectal) IPA^(key): /skɪə(ɹ)/^[1]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /skeː/
• (New Zealand, without the cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /skeə/
• (New Zealand, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /skiə/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /skeɹ/
• (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /skɜː(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)

From Middle English sker, skere (“terror, fright”), from the verb Middle English skerren (“to frighten”) (see below).

scare (plural scares)

1. A minor fright.

   Johnny had a bad scare last night.

   • 2011 June 4, Phil McNulty, “England 2 - 2 Switzerland”, in BBC‎:

     England were held to a draw after surviving a major scare against Switzerland as they were forced to come from two goals behind to earn a point in the Euro 2012 qualifier at Wembley.

2. A cause of slight terror; something that inspires fear or dread.

   a food-poisoning scare

3. A device or object used to frighten.
   • 1948, Alec H. Chisholm, Bird Wonders of Australia, page 153:

     But I admit the possibility of their being used as "scares" for either birds of prey or snakes, or both.

• fright

• scarecrow

From Middle English scaren, skaren, scarren, skeren, skerren, from Old Norse skirra (“to frighten; to shrink away from, shun; to prevent, avert”), from Proto-Germanic *skirzijaną (“to shoo, scare off”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to swing, jump, move”). Related to Old Norse skjarr (“timid, shy, afraid of”). Cognate with Scots skar (“wild, timid, shy”), dialectal Norwegian Nynorsk skjerra, dialectal Swedish skjarra and possibly Old Armenian ցիռ (cʻiṙ, “wild ass”).

scare (third-person singular simple present scares, present participle scaring, simple past and past participle scared)

1. To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way.

   Did it scare you when I said "Boo!"?

   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , lines 6-7:

     That cannot be; the noise of thy crossbow / Will scare the herd, and so my shoot is lost.

   • 1957 October 20, Roy Bedichek, “to John Henry Faulk”, in Letters of Roy Bedichek, Austin, T.X.: University of Texas Press, published 1985, →ISBN, page 507:

     Late triumphs of Russian science are scaring the very dogwater out of large elements in our society, and we both fear more "purging" instead of more effort at catching up.

   • 1995, The Langoliers:

     (Laurel Stevenson) Would you please be quiet? You're scaring the little girl.
     (Craig Toomey) Scaring the little girl?! Scaring the little girl?! Lady!

   • 2013 February 5, Steven Davidoff Solomon, “Reasons to Be Suspicious of Buyouts Led by Management”, in The New York Times‎:

     In other words, the transaction is preferred because it is the best of bad choices. And at least one study has found that when management preannounces a deal it results in lower premiums presumably because it scares off other bidders.

   • 2015 January 13, “Hundreds of geese carcasses dumped in Yunlin amid bird flu scares”, in Focus Taiwan‎, archived from the original on November 09, 2024, Society‎:

     Residents of Sihu Township in the central county of Yunlin were left scared and angry after hundreds of dead geese were found dumped in an irrigation channel Tuesday, inciting a minor panic as avian flu continues to spread throughout the country.

• frighten
• terrify
• See also Thesaurus:frighten

scare (comparative more scare, superlative most scare)

1. lean; scanty

• cares, sacre, caser, acers, ceras, serac, Ceras, Creas, Cesar, sérac, Carse, Races, CERAs, Crase, e-cars, caers, carse, races, SERCA, acres, Cares, scear, crase

From Latin scarus (also genus name Scarus), from Ancient Greek σκάρος (skáros).

• IPA^(key): /skaʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

scare m (plural scares)

1. parrotfish

• “scare”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

• âcres, caser, César, crase, créas, races, sacre, sacré