I. ˈske](ə)r, ˈska(a)], ]ə, dial ˈski] verb
( scared ](ə)rd, ]əd ; or dialect scart ](ə)rt, ]ət ; scared or dialect scart ; scaring ; scares )
Etymology: Middle English skerren, skeren, from Old Norse skirra, from skjarr shy, timid
transitive verb
1. : to strike with sudden fear : frighten , alarm , panic
2.
a. : to drive or impel or evoke by fright
rattlesnakes used to scare me to death — Ben Hogan
a scream that scared away the burglar
an aloofness that scares off suitors
scare a confession out of the suspect by threats
a pet mouse that scared the wits out of his mother
: cause to become by fright
a wild midnight ride that scared him stiff
b. : to cause (as bird pests) to go away in fright : frighten off
from scaring birds, the … child graduated through the many tasks of mixed farming — Times Literary Supplement
c. : to frighten (game) from cover — used with out or up
sent a beater ahead to scare out the partridge
intransitive verb
1. : to become scared : take alarm
a woman who scares easily at the sight of a mouse
2. : to produce fright
Synonyms: see frighten
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English skere, from skeren to scare
1. : a sensation or state of sudden fear
fired over their heads to throw a scare into them
: an instance of being scared: as
a. : a sudden fright produced by a trifling cause or originating in a mistake
given quite a scare by hearing the news of a boy's drowning before their son returned
b. : a widespread state of exaggerated or mistaken alarm : panic
the frontier situation and British arbitrary naval seizures produced a war scare in the spring of 1794 — S.F.Bemis
2. : something that causes fright
scares were made of poles wrapped with reeds hung with potsherds — C.D.Forde
III. adjective
1. : tending to cause fright or widespread alarm
scare stories that tuna caught in the Pacific are dangerously radioactive — U.S. News & World Report
2. : affected by or due to fright or panic
a refuge for scare money from unsettled parts of the world — Christian Science Monitor