(~s, scaring, ~d)
1.
If something ~s you, it frightens or worries you.
You’re scaring me...
The prospect of failure ~s me rigid...
It ~d him to realise how close he had come to losing everything.
= frighten
VERB: V n, V n adj, it V n to-inf
•
If you want to emphasize that something ~s you a lot, you can say that it ~s the hell out of you or ~s the life out of you.
PHRASE: V inflects emphasis
2.
If a sudden unpleasant experience gives you a ~, it frightens you.
Don’t you realize what a ~ you’ve given us all?...
We got a bit of a ~.
N-SING
3.
A ~ is a situation in which many people are afraid or worried because they think something dangerous is happening which will affect them all.
...the doctor at the centre of an Aids ~...
N-COUNT: oft n N
4.
A bomb ~ or a security ~ is a situation in which there is believed to be a bomb in a place.
Despite many recent bomb ~s, no one has yet been hurt.
= alert
N-COUNT: usu n N
5.
see also ~d