scare

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English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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

Noun

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.
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See also

Etymology 2

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”).

Verb

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!"?
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Etymology 3

Adjective

scare (comparative more scare, superlative most scare)

  1. lean; scanty

References

  1. ^ Stanley, Oma (1937) “I. Vowel Sounds in Stressed Syllables”, in The Speech of East Texas (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 2), New York: Columbia University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, § 6, page 16.

Anagrams

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Noun

scare m (plural scares)

  1. parrotfish

Further reading

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