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rt (as of weight on the chest or stomach, impossibility of motion or speech, etc.), or by frightful or oppressive dreams, from which one wakes after extreme anxiety, in a troubled state of mind; incubus. Dunglison.

imaginary monster, or hideous giant of fairy tales, who lived on human beings; hence, any frightful giant; a cruel monster. His schoolroom must have resembled an ogre's den. Maccaulay.

A command; a mandate; a precept; a direction. Upon this new fright, an order was made by both houses for disarming all the papists in England. Clarendon.

Extreme or sudden and causeless; unreasonable; -- said of fear or fright; as, panic fear, terror, alarm. "A panic fright." Dryden.

Timid; easily frightened; chicken-hearted. Beau. & Fl.

ils in Egypt, Syria, and Turkey, and has at times visited the large cities of Europe with frightful mortality; hence, any pestilence; as, the great London plague. "A plague upon the people fell." Tennyson. Cattle plague. See Rinderpest. -- Plague mark, Plague spot, a spot or mark of the plague; hence, a token of somet…

pluck; courageous; spirited; as, a plucky race. If you're plucky, and not over subject to fright. Barham.

Any imagined frightful object, especially one supposed to haunt the darkness; a bugbear. [Colloq. U. S.]

s said; as, the beasts trembled forth from their dens, that is, came forth trembling with fright.

r upward; as, to put up goods for sale. (d) To start from a cover, as game. "She has been frightened; she has been put up." C. Kingsley.

A specter mentioned to frighten children; as, rawhead and bloodybones.

t again; to console anew; to give new strength to. Bacon. Gan her recomfort from so sad affright. Spenser.

-- often followed by of or from; as, to recover from a state of poverty; to recover from fright. Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this disease. 2 Kings i. 2.

ickness, weakness, faintness, or the like; restoration from a condition of mistortune, of fright, etc.

To frighten; to strike with sudden fear; to alarm. The noise of thy crossbow Will scare the herd, and so my shoot is lost. Shak. To scare away, to drive away by frightening. -- To scare up, to find by search, as if by beating for game. [Slang]

Anything set up to frighten crows or other birds from cornfields; hence, anything terifying without danger. A scarecrow set to frighten fools away. Dryden.

Causing fright; alarming. [Colloq.U.S.]

cry out with a shrill voice; to utter a sudden, sharp outcry, or shrill, loud cry, as in fright or extreme pain; to shriek; to screech. I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Shak. And scream thyself as none e'er screamed before. Pope.

A harsh, shrill cry, as of one in acute pain or in fright; a shriek; a scream. Screech bird, or Screech thrush (Zoöl.), the fieldfare; -- so called from its harsh cry before rain. -- Screech rain. -- Screech hawk (Zoöl.), the European goatsucker; -- so called from its note. [Prov. Eng.] -- Screech owl. (Zoöl.) (a) A…

Begone; away; -- an expression used in frightening away animals, especially fowls.