terrify, v.
(ˈtɛrɪfaɪ)
[ad. L. terrificāre to frighten, f. terrificus terrific: see -fy. Cf. F. terrifier (Littré).]
1. trans. To make much afraid, to fill with terror, to frighten or alarm greatly. Also absol.
| 1578 Chr. Prayers in Priv. Prayers (Parker Soc.) 501 Thou terrifiest none but such as most horribly are afraid of thee. 1638 Penit. Conf. ii. (1657) 15 No Conscience to accuse, no Devil to terrifie. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 338 Terrifi'd Hee fled, not hoping to escape, but shun The present. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 215 The fowler then discovers himself, and terrifies the quail, who..entangles himself the more in the net, and is taken. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. I. Son of Crœsus xxiii, Girls, sent their water-jars to fill, Would come back pale, too terrified to cry. |
b. To drive
from,
out of,
into, etc. by terrifying; to deter
from; to frighten
out of,
into, etc.
| 1575 tr. Luther's Comm. Gal. iii. 3. 100 b, To exhort the Galathians, and to terrifie them from a double daunger. 1690 Nesse Hist. & Myst. O. & N.T. I. 53 Those very angels which terrified them both from the tree. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xxxvii, It may terrify her to death in the present weak state of her nerves. 1867 Smiles Huguenots Eng. iv. (1880) 55 The people who remained were at length terrified into orthodoxy. |
2. To irritate, torment, worry, harass, annoy, tease. Now only
dial.| 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. ii. iii, Working only by terrifying Plaisters upon the rind and orifice of the Sore. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Terrify, to teize; irritate; annoy. A blister or a caustic is said to terrify a patient. 1876 N. & Q. 5th Ser. VI. 56/1 He has been terrified all night by those insects. 1898 J. A. Gibbs Cotswold Vill. viii. 164 ‘Terrify him, sir; keep on terrifying of him’. This does not mean that you are to frighten the fish; on the contrary, he is urging you to stick to him till he gets tired of being harassed. |
† 3. To make terrible.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1643 Milton Divorce ii. iii, If the law, instead of aggravating and terrifying sin, shall give out licence, it foils itself. |
Hence
ˈterrified (
-faɪd)
ppl. a. (whence
ˈterrifiedly adv.);
ˈterrifying vbl. n. and ppl. a. (whence
ˈterrifyingly adv.); also
ˈterrifier (
-faɪə(r)), one who or that which terrifies.
| 1821 Scott Kenilw. xxxiv, Elizabeth..hastened..along the principal alley of the Pleasance, dragging with her the *terrified Countess. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. i, Her terrified expostulation stopped him. |
| 1890 Temple Bar Mag. Nov. 313 She is still *terrifiedly clutching his hand. |
| 1617 Collins Def. Bp. Ely Suppl. 548 In stead of a *terrifier, he hath brought him about now, to be a praiser. 1870 R. C. Jebb Sophocles' Electra (ed. 2) 72/1 The terrifier of horses. |
| 1617 J. Woodford in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 199 A gibbet having been set up..for the *terrifying of the people. |
| c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxxviii. xi, Thou dost me fill..With *terrifying feares. 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1818) 269 At the least terrifying appearance, they start from their seats. 1849 Stovel Introd. Canne's Necess. 71 Exhibitions of terrifying depravity. |
| 1805 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. (1806) I. 271 If your honour had not been so *terrifyingly flurried, I should have given you the message before. 1908 H. G. Wells War in Air vi. 194 It had crept in upon his mind, chillingly terrifyingly, that these illuminated black masses were great offices afire. 1944 D. Welch In Youth is Pleasure v. 89 He grinned, and then began to make the flesh round his eyes terrifyingly inflamed. |