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The act of frightening; also, a cause of terror; an object of dread. B. Jonson.

An encounter either friendly or hostile. [Obs.] I walked about, admired of all, and dreaded On hostile ground, none daring my affront. Milton.

To shudder at; to abhor; to dread; to loathe. [Obs.] Wyclif.

Intense dread of, or aversion to, England or the English. -- An"glo*phobe, n.

To anticipate; esp., to anticipate with anxiety, dread, or fear; to fear. The opposition had more reason than the king to apprehend violence. Macaulay.

Anticipative of something unfavorable' fearful of what may be coming; in dread of possible harm; in expectation of evil. Not at all apprehensive of evils as a distance. Tillotson. Reformers . . . apprehensive for their lives. Gladstone.

; -- commonly used in the plural, as, arrears of rent, wages, or taxes. Locke. For much I dread due payment by the Greeks Of yesterday's arrear. Cowper. I have a large arrear of letters to write. J. D. Forbes. In arrear or In arrears, behind; backward; behindhand; in debt.

One who practices some mechanic art or craft; an artisan. [Obs.] How to build ships, and dreadful ordnance cast, Instruct the articles and reward their. Waller.

general prepared to renew the assault. Prescott. Unshaken bears the assault Of their most dreaded foe, the strong southwest. Wordsworth.

The overpowering emotion excited when something unaccountable, wonderful, or dreadful is presented to the mind; an intense degree of surprise; amazement. Lest the place And my quaint habits breed astonishment. Milton.

Dread; great fear mingled with respect. [Obs. or Obsolescent] His frown was full of terror, and his voice Shook the delinquent with such fits of awe. Cowper.

The quality of striking with awe, or with reverence; dreadfulness; solemnity; as, the awfulness of this sacred place. The awfulness of grandeur. Johnson.

To extend over and beyond the base or support; to overhang; to jut. To the dreadful summit of the cliff That beetles o'er his base into the sea. Shak. Each beetling rampart, and each tower sublime. Wordsworth.

Something especially hated or dreaded; a bugbear.

A dread of books. [R.]

To deck; to embellish; to adorn. She blazons in dread smiles her hideous form. Garth.

The state of being blemished; blemish; disgrace; damage; impairment. For dread of blame and honor's blemishment. Spenser.

To burst. [Obs.] And both his yën braste out of his face. Chaucer. Dreadfull furies which their chains have brast. Spenser.

The act of slaughtering; the act of killing cruelly and needlessly. That dreadful butchering of one another. Addison.

The thing thrown. A cast of dreadful dust. Dryden.