befright

English

Etymology

From be- +‎ fright. Compare German befürchten (“to be afraid of; fear”).

Verb

befright (third-person singular simple present befrights, present participle befrighting, simple past and past participle befrighted)

1. (transitive) To fill with fright; make afraid; scare; frighten
   • 1881, James Alexander Wickersham, Aliso and Acne, page 84:

     […] I would so near this knot to certainty,
     That its appearance shall befright the bride,
     Until, despairing, she shall say the wish
     To be a nymph again; then should she know me?

   • 1884, Cruck-a-Leaghan (pseud.), Lays and legends of the north of Ireland:

     For ourselves till befright, an' till show his oul' spite,
     Whin he'd miss'd all the prachis he'd cum for, so far
     Himself, the untutor'd oul' haythen, beschuterd
     Us, ears over head all with boilin'-hot tar.

   • 1983, Gerald St. Maur, Occasional Publication, numbers 18-32, page 7:

     […] With confidence, and so inscribe the chart
     Where white and still the void befrights the heart.

   • 2006, Mary Hooper, Petals in the Ashes, page 137:

     Mr Newbery shrugged. 'Goods will be safer there, stacked tight, than in our flimsy shops,' he said, and then went on his way to warn and befright our other neighbours. And indeed perhaps this was a good thing.

   • 2011, The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes:

     All round terrors befright him, and they scatter at his feet.