vergraulen

20th century, from ver- +‎ graulen (“to be scared”, rare or regional). The latter is from earlier graueln, a variant of (also rare) gräueln, from Middle High German griuweln, grūweln, whence the noun Gräuel (“horror”). The form with -ūw- (modern -au-) probably shows the same Central German development as in brauen, kauen. The change from -eln to -len is unremarkable (in fact, many speakers merge these entirely).

• IPA^(key): /ferˈɡraʊ̯lən/, [fɐˈɡʁaʊ̯.lən], [fɛɐ̯-], [-ˈɡʁaʊ̯.l̩n]

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vergraulen (weak, third-person singular present vergrault, past tense vergraulte, past participle vergrault, auxiliary haben)

1. (transitive) to put off, drive off, scare off (cause someone to lose interest, e.g. through unfriendliness)

   Synonyms: vergrätzen, vertreiben

2. (transitive, less common) to spoil something for someone (make them lose interest in)

   Synonyms: verleiden, trüben, (informal) madig machen, versauen

• Vergraulen
• Vergraulung

• “vergraulen” in Duden online
• “vergraulen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache