1818 T. Hudson Comic Songs 9 A proof is here, quite plain and clear, that He with thousand pounds a year, Unless he use it properly gets nothing else than worret.

1844 in A. R. Ashwell Life S. Wilberforce (1880) I. vi. 221 Assuaging any and every worret, temporal and spiritual.

1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xxiii. 231 ‘Mrs. Richards's eldest, Miss!’ said Susan, ‘and the worrit of Mrs. Richards's life!’

1861 C. S. Calverley Charades i Endless cares and endless worrits, well I knows it, has a wife.

1889 F. E. Gretton Memory's Harkback 68 The young men did not mind strictness, but they would not stand worrying... B was as kindly and good-natured as possible, but he was a ‘worrit.’

1854 W. Collins Hide & Seek (1904) ii. xiv. 317 It was how to track the man as was Mary's death, that I puzzled and worrited about in my head, at that time.

1857 C. Kingsley Two Years Ago I. viii. 209 He..snaps, and worrits, and won't speak to her sometimes for a whole morning.

1868 G. J. Whyte-Melville White Rose vii ‘Look alive, girl! Come—bustle, bustle! It's gone six o'clock.’ ‘Why, father, how you keep on worriting!’

1845 G. E. Jewsbury Zoe I. 33 [He] is just the naughtiest and most worritting boy I ever saw.

1856 C. Dickens Little Dorrit (1857) i. xxiii. 205 There would be none of this worriting and wearing.

1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. I. xi. 194 Here and there some..worriting, energizing mortal..gets command of a boat.

1871 S. Smiles Character viii. 219 Worreting, petty, and self-tormenting cares.