affright
/əˈfrʌɪt
/archaic
verb [with object]
Frighten (someone): ghosts could never affright her...
- ‘Oh my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!’
- John was affrighted at the eager enjoyment - the appetite, as it were - with which he found himself inhaling the fragrance of the flowers.
- But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
noun [mass noun]
Fright: the deer gazed at us in affright...
- The words heard by the party upon the staircase were the Frenchman's exclamations of horror and affright, commingled with the fiendish jabberings of the brute.
- No wonder the wolves start back in affright; no wonder the vultures, after stooping low, ply their wings in quick nervous stroke, and soar up again!
- As she turned in affright she was confronted by a white man.
Origin
Late Middle English: in early use from āfyrhted 'frightened' in Old English; later by vague form association with fright.