frighten

• freighten (obsolete)

From Middle English fryghten, equivalent to fright +‎ -en.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɹaɪ.tən/, [ˈfɹ̥aɪtn̩], [ˈfɹ̥aɪʔn̩]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪtən
• Hyphenation: frigh‧ten

frighten (third-person singular simple present frightens, present participle frightening, simple past and past participle frightened)

1. (transitive) To cause to feel fear; to scare; to cause to feel alarm or fright.

   Avery puts a sheet over her head, pretending to be a ghost to frighten Emily.

   • 1746, Isaac Kimber, “Henry VII”, in The History of England, from the Earliest Accounts to the Accession of His Present Majesty King George II. […] , page 217:

     His Deſign was only to frighten France, and get more Money.

   • 1883, Felix Leopold Oswald, “A Step-child of Nature”, in Zoological Sketches[:] A Contribution to the Out-door Study of Natural History, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., page 90:

     You may frighten a pig, a goose, a frog, and even a fly, but you cannot frighten or surprise a sloth.

   • 1928, E. A. Wallis Budge, transl., The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church[:] A translation of the Ethiopic Synaxarium […] , volume 1, London: Cambridge University Press, page 220:

     And he commanded his soldiers […] to frighten them with fierce swords, but the hearts of the holy men did not quail, and they were unable to alter their words.

2. (intransitive) To become scared or alarmed.
   • 1898, Franklane L. Sewell, Ida E. Tilson, “White Leghorns”, in The Poultry Herald Manual[:] A Guide to Successful Poultry Keeping, St. Paul, Minnesota: Webb Publishing Company, page 41:

     In fitting the White Leghorns for exhibition, it must be remembered that they are of nervous disposition and frighten easily.

   • 1959, Harold G. (Hack) Miller, “Rod and gun”, in Hearings […] , Washington: United States Government Printing Office, page 101:

     Those male moose at the southeast arm didn't frighten very much when we docked to fly-fish one day. One was so scared of us he just walked toward us and snorted.

   • 1995 April, Jeff Csatari, “Tackle Tips”, in Boys' Life, volume 85, number 4, Irving, Texas: Boy Scouts of America, Inc., →ISSN, page 42:

     Be sneaky. Fish frighten easily.

• See also Thesaurus:frighten

• fright

• fringeth

• friȝten, fyrten

From Old English fyrhtan; equivalent to fright +‎ -en (infinitival suffix).

• IPA^(key): /ˈfrixtən/, [ˈfriçtən]

frighten

1. To frighten, scare

• English: (to) fright (archaic)

• “frighten, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-05.