scaryadj.

1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis iv. 76 But toe the, poore Dido, this sight so skearye beholding, What feeling creepeth?

1827 J. F. Cooper Prairie II. v. 68 If any can pretend to know the world, or to have seen scary sights, it is myself!

1854 ‘M. Harland’ Alone xiii A Giant Grim, who frequents places of amusement to corner children, and relate scary stories to them.

1894 D. C. Murray Making of Novelist 29 Whatever the miners thought about it, it was rather a scarey business for me.

1938 J. Steinbeck Long Valley 14 It would be a lonely life for a woman, ma'am, and a scarey life too, with animals creeping under the wagon all night.

1955 E. Coxhead Figure in Mist iv. 123 We're over the scary part now.

1960 Guardian 27 Oct. 9/5 This is real scarey.

1961 G. Greene Burnt-out Case vi. iii. 237 Goodness, I'm glad to be here. It was really scary driving all the way alone.

1975 New Yorker 21 Apr. 105/1 It's something scary you don't have to believe in.

1975 University (Princeton Univ.) Winter 9/1 The latter showed that energy consumption, per person, could easily double by 2000. That's pretty scary, with energy resources almost sure to decline.

1977 Times Lit. Suppl. 11 Feb. 145/4 (advt.) Set against a background of sinister ritual, vengeance and murder, a novel to be read at one scarey sitting.

1978 Nature 20 July 199/1 The procession was headed by figures dressed in radioactive protection gear, clearly intended to be scary.

1981 Listener 1 Jan. 23/3 The threat..is pretty scary.

1773 J. Johnson Let. 29 Nov. in Joshua Johnson's Letterbk. (1979) 109 If you are scary, we never shall cut any figure in the business.

1800 M. L. Weems Let. 29 Dec. in Ford's M. L. Weems: Wks. & Ways (1929) II. 160 I have always been very scary about our monies.

1816 U. Brown Jrnl. in Maryland Hist. Mag. 10 358 Ferryed over on Cumberland (felt a little scary, when about half way the wind blew fresh down the river).

1827 J. F. Cooper Prairie II. vi. 92 A skeary comrade in the woods is apt to make a short path long.

1842 in Coquet-Dale Fishing Songs (1852) 104 The scary trout glides swiftly out.

1873 W. Carleton Farm Ballads 8 Women are skeery critters.

1887 I. Randall Lady's Ranche Life Montana 137 My mount was a young ‘scarey’ horse.

1894 G. M. Fenn Real Gold 138 I want to talk. It keeps one from feeling a bit skeary.

1903 J. Vaizey Pixie O'Shaughnessy ix. 107 She was too frightened to own up last night—you know what a scarey little thing she is.

1907 J. M. Synge Let. 25 Apr. (1971) 128 I have been getting a little bit scary about your extravagance.

1951 L. Craig Singing Hills vi. 45 He'd a been right smart proudified of your not being scary.

1970 N. Streatfeild Thursday's Child xxxii. 218 He was as scary of being seen as a wild deer.