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Frighten   Listen
verb
Frighten  v. t.  (past frightened; pres. part. frightening)  To disturb with fear; to throw into a state of alarm or fright; to affright; to terrify. "More frightened than hurt."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Frighten" Quotes from Famous Books



... au grand galop, drivers and outriders giving, from time to time, the most extraordinary shrieks to encourage the horses and to amuse themselves, wild and shrill enough to frighten any civilized quadruped. The road grew more picturesque as we advanced, and at length our attention was arrested by the sight of the two great pyramids, which rise to the east of the town of San Juan Teotihuacan, which are mentioned by Humboldt, and have excited the curiosity ...
— Life in Mexico • Frances Calderon de la Barca

... removed by his utter inability to rise above the sensual sphere. The Australian is absolutely immoral and incredibly licentious. Here, however, we are confronted by a spectre with which the sentimentalists try to frighten the searchers for truth, and which must therefore be exorcised first. They grant the wantonness of savages, but declare that it is "due chiefly to the influence of civilization." This is one of the favorite subterfuges of ...
— Primitive Love and Love-Stories • Henry Theophilus Finck

... child, to stop me, and said, "No, I never think, and I never mean to think, of all the old hateful things. I never wilfully did any harm; I only liked the people who liked me, and gave them all they asked—and now I know that I did right, though in old days serious people used to try to frighten me. God is very good to me," she went on, smiling, "to allow me to be happy in my ...
— The Child of the Dawn • Arthur Christopher Benson

... pushed the door to, and caught hold of her. "I've come to have a chat and a kiss." She struggled, but I got her tight, and kissed as a randy man then kisses a woman, it is a magnetizing thing. "Oh! there it is again," she cried as a loud thunder-clap was heard; "oh! let me go,—oh! it do frighten me so." ...
— My Secret Life, Volumes I. to III. - 1888 Edition • Anonymous

... Dunmore and Colonel Byrd have interfered with the Indians or not, Richard Henderson is equally ignorant and indifferent. The utmost result of their efforts can only serve to convince them of the futility of their schemes and possibly frighten some few faint-hearted persons, naturally prone to reverence great names and fancy everything must shrink at the magic ...
— The Conquest of the Old Southwest • Archibald Henderson

... into the say. Och! but it was plisint! Well, just as I was coming out, who should I see on the rocks above me but a big thief of an Arab? I knew at wance that if I was to putt on close he'd guess, maybe, who I was, so I came out o' the wather an' ran straight at him naked—meanin' to frighten him away like. An' sure enough he tuk to his heels like a Munster pig. I don't know how it is, but I have always had a strong turn for huntin'. From the time whin I was a small gosoon runnin' after the pigs an' cats, I've bin apt to give chase to anything that runned ...
— The Pirate City - An Algerine Tale • R.M. Ballantyne

... he said in his own tongue. "Art thou a man, and claimest the blood of princes, and yet canst stoop to frighten ...
— The Lord of Dynevor • Evelyn Everett-Green

... a relief. I didn't know. Ellen she always says, 'Mother, you're a real fidget;' but when one grows old, and has valves in the heart as I have, you never—We might meet one of those big pedler's wagons, though, and they frighten horses worse than anything. Oh, what's that coming now? Let us get out, Dr. Hope; pray, let us all ...
— Clover • Susan Coolidge

... to the cycle of Robin Hood,) should be the son of Sir Rowland de Bois. Robin de Bois (says a writer in Notes and Queries, vi. 597) occurs in one of Sue's novels "as a well-known mythical character, whose name is employed by French mothers to frighten their children."] ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 1, Issue 2, December, 1857 • Various

... to help him. She really did, too, for she played ghost one night to frighten the old care-taker, and she told Jules's uncle, when he came back, how cruelly the poor little thing had ...
— The Little Colonel's Hero • Annie Fellows Johnston

... wonderful: a gloomy piece, that made you shudder. There were large dingy pictures of woollen martyrs, and scowling warriors with limbs strongly knitted; there was especially, at the end of a black passage, a den of lions, that would frighten any boy not born in Africa, or Exeter 'Change, and accustomed ...
— John Leech's Pictures of Life and Character • William Makepeace Thackeray

... the force of his brutality to frighten Anna into yielding. "See here," and he caught her arm in no uncertain grasp. "You've got to go. You can't stay here in the same place with me. If money is what you want, you shall have it; but you've got to go. ...
— 'Way Down East - A Romance of New England Life • Joseph R. Grismer

... were occupied. If any one of them—Honey and the rest—made the most casual of accidental moves in her direction, her flight was that of an arrow. But nobody could have been more careful than they not to frighten her. ...
— Angel Island • Inez Haynes Gillmore

... sufficient capacity left me to automatically, mechanically, go through with the necessities of life. I have not become idiotic. I live in a tremendous and profound solitude, such a solitude as would frighten many people greatly. But my beautiful pastime had accustomed me to solitude and also to something of this nothingness—a brief nothingness was a necessary part of the beautiful pastime: so I have no fears now of any ...
— The Prodigal Returns • Lilian Staveley

... in the wagon?' I exclaimed, starting up with such vehemence as to frighten my children. 'Are ...
— The Desert Home - The Adventures of a Lost Family in the Wilderness • Mayne Reid

... it was an operose business on both sides of the water. It required the repeal of several laws, the modification of many, and a new course to be given to an infinite number of legislative, judicial, and official practices and usages in both kingdoms. This did not frighten any of us. You are now asked to give, in some moderate measure, to your fellow-citizens, what Great Britain gave to you without any measure at all. Yet, notwithstanding all the difficulties at the ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. IV. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... my wheel-boat escaped from its moorings just as we were going to step on board. With the utmost difficulty we overtook it; and as I saw three or four stage-coaches on the road, and feared that this sailing chariot might frighten their horses, I, at the hazard of my life, got into my carriage while it was under full sail, and then, at a favourable part of the road, I used the means I had of guiding it easily out of the way. But the sense of the ...
— Richard Lovell Edgeworth - A Selection From His Memoir • Richard Lovell Edgeworth

... that to be done, I wonder?" As she said this, she came suddenly upon an open place, with a little house in it about four feet high. "Whoever lives there," thought Alice, "it'll never do to come upon them this size; why, I should frighten them out of their wits!" She did not venture to go near the house till she had brought herself down ...
— Alice in Wonderland • Lewis Carroll

... the prettiest, I trust. She is too like her father, with those dark brows, and her eyes have a look deep enough to frighten one. They will frighten away the men, if she do ...
— Love and Life • Charlotte M. Yonge

... Sahib, think great serpent is swallowing the sun, and they try to frighten him away ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 454 - Volume 18, New Series, September 11, 1852 • Various

... to frighten us as much as you please—after you are dead. But it is difficult to believe that you mean what you say. Will you try to give us some sign of your great resentment—after your head has ...
— Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things • Lafcadio Hearn

... written proof, which must be an important one, appeared the easiest thing in the world. He had simply to arrest Cavaillon, frighten him, demand the letter, and, if ...
— File No. 113 • Emile Gaboriau

... to trespass in my forest and to prowl round my garden. I see their inquisitive faces at my gates. I think I must buy a dog to frighten them away. But then I should have to put up with his howling after some dear and distant ...
— The Dangerous Age • Karin Michaelis

... quail I happen upon a little harmless snake, I find that I respond to the sight in a most absurd manner. Dread and repulsion overcome me. I can hardly restrain myself from killing the snake, even though doing so will frighten the birds I am hunting. I am predisposed to react in a particular way towards a snake. I sustain ...
— Increasing Efficiency In Business • Walter Dill Scott

... child who killed a very tall man merely because Jack killed the giants, or who was unkind to his stepmother, if he had one, because, in fairy tales, the stepmother is often disagreeable. If there are frightful monsters in fairy tales, they do not frighten you now, because that kind of monster is no longer going about the world, whatever he may have done long, long ago. He has been turned into stone, and you may see his remains in museums. Therefore, I am not afraid that you will be afraid of the magicians and dragons; ...
— The Green Fairy Book • Various

... left my place an hour ago—to get his kit, I think. And I came here at once because that was what you and I understood I was to do, wasn't it? Jimmie, you frighten me! You are not yourself. Don't you remember the last words you said, as you nodded to me behind the Magpie's back—that you would be here BEFORE us? There was no mistaking your meaning—if I could get away from him, I was to ...
— The Adventures of Jimmie Dale • Frank L. Packard

... cannot be One, nor half a one. These stories Faith! would frighten fifty Hectors; What know I of Lady Spectres, Or of Lord Don Purgatories? All through life I've kept aloof From the other world's affairs, Shunning much superfluous cares; But, my courage put to proof, Bid me face a thousand men, And if I don't cut and run From the thousand, nay, from one, Never ...
— The Purgatory of St. Patrick • Pedro Calderon de la Barca

... "Now you're trying to frighten me, Mr. Durham. Sure, what sort of a man is it I've met this morning? I believe you'd like to see old Patsy inside a cell, and then maybe ...
— The Rider of Waroona • Firth Scott

... "You treated me badly, Joan. It was right that I should teach you a lesson—frighten you ...
— The Summons • A.E.W. Mason

... her to Doctor Forester to-day, and he—surprised me a good deal. He seemed to think that mother must not spend the coming winter in this climate. Don't be alarmed; I don't want to frighten you, but I want you to appreciate the necessity. He thinks that if mother were to have a year of rest and change we need have no ...
— The Second Violin • Grace S. Richmond

... reasonable, dear, and do not think I am losing heart. I am just as determined as ever. Nothing can change me. You believe that, don't you, Barry dear? I know how impulsive you are and how set in your ways. Sometimes you really frighten me but I know it is because you love me so much. You must not do anything rash. It would spoil everything. I do wish you would stay away from that awful place down by the river. Mother would feel ...
— Viola Gwyn • George Barr McCutcheon

... their service, so that when the physicians see that they will avail nothing with regard to her by cajolery or by entreaty, then they take her off the bier and strike her and beat her; but their fury is to no purpose, since for all this they draw not a word from her. Then they threaten and frighten her and say that, if she does not speak, she will that very day find out the folly of her action; for they will inflict on her such dire treatment that never before was its like inflicted on any body of caitiff woman. "Well we know that you are alive and do not deign to speak ...
— Cliges: A Romance • Chretien de Troyes

... had let the old-fashioned hell go by with other dogmas out of style. He had fashioned a new Hades to frighten people with, that they might not find sin too attractive ...
— In a Little Town • Rupert Hughes

... Mr. Lightfoot, you will frighten Mitty to death," said his wife, reprovingly, "and it is really very dangerous for you to excite yourself so—you remember the doctor cautioned you against it." And, by the time the Major was thoroughly depressed, she skilfully brought out her point. "Of course you spoil the ...
— The Battle Ground • Ellen Glasgow

... noticed a man on the rampart who towered over the battlements from his belt upwards. The arrows that flew about him seemed to frighten him no more than a swarm of swallows. Extraordinary to say, none of ...
— Salammbo • Gustave Flaubert

... to have Rupert in to frighten him into staying in bed," Ricky said. "The doctor thinks he ought to be there a couple of days at least. But Jeems doesn't agree with him. Between keeping Jeems in bed and keeping Rupert out of the swamp I've ...
— Ralestone Luck • Andre Norton

... against him. His Dean disobeyed him and sided with the colonists. He was petitioned, threatened, and abused. The children were taught couplets against him, which they sang after him in the street. Some one even discharged a gun into the window of his room one night, to frighten him. All support was withdrawn from the Dominicans, and the Bishop's salary ...
— Las Casas - 'The Apostle of the Indies' • Alice J. Knight

... is from this giant dog that the inland-dwellers got their great fear of all dogs. It would always appear suddenly at the window, and drag them out. But it was a good thing that something happened to frighten the inland-dwellers, for they had themselves an evil custom of carrying off lonely folk, especially women, when they had lost ...
— Eskimo Folktales • Unknown

... long overdue, and bogged firmly in the red adobe mud was a gaunt long-horned cow. The Chief was too tender-hearted to shoot her and drive on, as he knew he should. Instead he stopped the car and got out to see if he could possibly "extract" her. Failing to frighten her into pulling herself out, he goaded her into a frenzy by throwing sharp stinging rocks at her. One landed on her tender flank and she tossed her horns and struggled. The Chief stooped, with his back to her, for another rock, just as ...
— I Married a Ranger • Dama Margaret Smith

... each other's blood? Coerce! force fifteen States! Why, you cannot force New Jersey alone! Force the South? They won't stop to count forces—neither side can be frightened. Don't think of it. You cannot frighten either, no more than the hero could be frightened whom the Roman poet has immortalized. Suppose after the expenditure of a thousand millions you shall have stopped dismemberment and subjugated the South, what is to become of the country then? what is ...
— A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention • Lucius Eugene Chittenden

... the struggle. The first battle was fought before the arrival of the allies on either side, and, though it was indecisive, the valour of Aristomenes struck fear into the hearts of the Spartans. To frighten the enemy still more, the hero crossed the frontier, entered Sparta by night, and affixed a shield to the temple of Athena (Minerva), with the inscription, "Dedicated by Aristomenes to the goddess from the Spartan spoils." The Spartans in alarm sent to Delphi ...
— A Smaller History of Greece • William Smith

... slowly toward me and kiss you on your fine, straight brows, your serene forehead, that is like that of the angels in the Italian pictures father brought home from Italy. Then I will let you go. I shall not be too impetuous, lest I frighten you. And then some day you will say again, "Come home soon William," and it will mean that I am ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1915 - And the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various

... quite frighten me with your innuendoes and your half-confidences. I don't understand you. It is very difficult to act when ...
— The Honorable Miss - A Story of an Old-Fashioned Town • L. T. Meade

... vain the Liberals appealed to national unity or started back fires in Ontario by insisting that a vote for Borden meant a vote for Bourassa. The Conservative-Nationalist alliance cost the Government many seats in Quebec and apparently did not frighten Ontario. ...
— The Canadian Dominion - A Chronicle of our Northern Neighbor • Oscar D. Skelton

... she did? Why, while he slept that night, she healed his sore throat, and she gave him a new voice; and this voice was very wonderful, for it sounded for all the world like many voices, all yelping and howling at the same time. After that, all Mr. Coyote had to do when he wanted to frighten some one bigger and stronger than himself was to open his mouth and send forth his new voice, which ...
— Mother West Wind 'Why' Stories • Thornton W. Burgess

... incident in my life as coffee for breakfast. Of course, hes too much of a gentleman to misbehave himself; and I'm too much of a lady to let him; and hes shy and sheepish; and I'm correct and self-possessed; and at last, when I can bear it no longer, I either frighten him off, or give him a chance of proposing, just to see how he'll do it, and refuse him because he does it in the same silly way as all the rest. You dont call that an event in one's life, do you? With you it was different. ...
— Misalliance • George Bernard Shaw

... this: To love those who despise us, and give one's hand to the phantom when it is going to frighten us? ...
— Thus Spake Zarathustra - A Book for All and None • Friedrich Nietzsche

... go making any monkey talks at me. There ain't no sich things as ghosts. That'll do fer ter frighten kids with, ...
— Ted Strong in Montana - With Lariat and Spur • Edward C. Taylor

... the house," declared Adrian emphatically. "He may have put on some masquerade costume just to frighten these superstitious servants in case he ...
— The Broncho Rider Boys with Funston at Vera Cruz - Or, Upholding the Honor of the Stars and Stripes • Frank Fowler

... intentionally or inadvertently; while there was also the chance that another might rise beneath us so rapidly as to render it impossible for us to avoid him. One of the men suggested that we should endeavour to frighten them away by making a noise of some sort; but the former whaler strongly vetoed this proposition, asserting—whether rightly or wrongly I know not—that if we startled them the chances were that those nearest ...
— A Pirate of the Caribbees • Harry Collingwood

... and I'm the haunter. Wonder if there's any chance of anybody turning up? I've a good mind to go on to the cairn and howl and wave my candle about for a bit; it might fetch some one. The only thing is, it might frighten them away. I'll try it, anyhow, and I hope whoever comes will have some grub in his pocket and ...
— Parkhurst Boys - And Other Stories of School Life • Talbot Baines Reed

... your revenge, Miss Nott, for the fright I once gave you," he said a little uneasily, "for you quite startled me just now as you passed. I began to think the Pontiac was haunted. I thought you were a ghost. I don't know why such a ghost should FRIGHTEN anybody," he went on with a desperate attempt to recover his position by gallantry. "Let me see—that's Donna ...
— By Shore and Sedge • Bret Harte

... "Did I frighten you, my child?" he asked, gently. "It was a strange thing to happen! I thought that woman was in her grave. I thought she died, when—I will tell you all about it some day, soon, Miss Faith. It was the sad, terrible page of ...
— Faith Gartney's Girlhood • Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney

... hardly knew what answer to make to this. His object was to frighten his wife. That there had been words between her and George Bertram of which she, as his wife, would be afraid to tell, he had been thoroughly convinced. Yet she now offered to repeat to him everything if he would only desire her to do so; and in ...
— The Bertrams • Anthony Trollope

... his great extremity. Though George was eager to put the fleet and army of England in motion, the British cabinet wisely refused to plunge the nation into war for such a cause, and the emperor was left to reap the bitter fruit of his despotism and folly. The emperor endeavored to frighten England by saying that he was reduced to such an extremity that if the British cabinet did not give him aid, he should be compelled to seek peace by giving his daughter, with Austria in her hand as her dowry, to Carlos, ...
— The Empire of Austria; Its Rise and Present Power • John S. C. Abbott

... only time to turn her cat-like face and—hiss. But though that hiss would have been good enough as a bluff to frighten creatures who wouldn't upset a snake for anything, she was out of her reckoning upon this occasion. The hedgehog, who dealt in snakes as a game-warden deals in tigers, had no nerves that way. He just sailed in under the baffling, great, flapping wing, and, ere ever the ...
— The Way of the Wild • F. St. Mars

... sight of a patch of white sand ahead, which I mistake for a white painted house, but immediately after doubling round a bend we see the houses of the Talagouga Mission Station. The Eclaireur forthwith has an hysteric fit on her whistle, so as to frighten M. Forget and get him to dash off in his canoe to her at once. Apparently he knows her, and does not hurry, but comes on board quietly. I find there will be no place for me to stay at at Njole, so I decide to go on in the Eclaireur ...
— Travels in West Africa • Mary H. Kingsley

... "is too good: it will not last." Among his pets were a porcupine trained to prick the legs of his guests under the table "so that they drew them in quickly"; a raven that spoke like a human being; an eagle, and many snakes. He also studied necromancy, the better to frighten his apprentices. He left Florence in 1528, after the Medici expulsion, and, like Leonardo, took service with Francis the First. He died at ...
— A Wanderer in Florence • E. V. Lucas

... does," cried Mrs. Crewe, "what is it to us? We have done nothing; we have given no offence, and made no disturbance. This person has frightened us all wilfully, and Utterly without provocation; and now she can frighten us no longer, she would brave us. Let her tell her own story, and how will ...
— The Diary and Letters of Madam D'Arblay Volume 2 • Madame D'Arblay

... preparing to go off to get pearls, mother-of-pearl, etc. They are very expert in this occupation, and dive as deep as 100 feet. Prior to the plunge they go through a grotesque performance of waving their arms in the air and twisting their bodies, in order—as they say—to frighten away the sharks; then with a whoop they leap over the edge of the prahu, and continue to throw their arms and legs about for the purpose mentioned. They often dive for the shark and rip it up with ...
— The Philippine Islands • John Foreman

... the agitation for that precious illusion, and by the help of a great deal of beating of tom-toms, and gathering of clans, we shall get a great many other things by the way that we do want. Hearten your friends, and frighten your enemies—there is no other way of scoring in politics—and the particular score doesn't matter. Now don't look at me as if you would like to impeach me!—or I shall turn the tables. I am still fighting for ...
— Marcella • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... not come. There was only that bleating, horrible outcry as all the beasts bellowed of alarm and created this noise to frighten their ...
— Operation: Outer Space • William Fitzgerald Jenkins

... "I don't think anything would frighten me. Nothing seems frightening—now." After which she went into the room where Dr. Redcliff was ...
— Robin • Frances Hodgson Burnett

... to hear it," said Kaunitz, with statue-like tranquillity. "And now I will tell you why I have not sent for you this past week. It was that I might not interrupt your tender interviews with Count Palffy, nor frighten away the poor enamoured fool from the snares ...
— Joseph II. and His Court • L. Muhlbach

... opposite her sat the newly created officer of the Fifteenth Army Corps, Ober Lieutenant Carl von Arnstorf, looking rather smart in his borrowed plumage. The intimacy of their new situation did not frighten her, for she thought that already she had read enough of her companion's character to know that at least so far she was on safe ground. She gave him permission to smoke without his asking it, and this, it seemed, made for the beginnings of a ...
— The Secret Witness • George Gibbs

... between the two worlds is real, continuous; therefore he is proof against all speculations, denunciations, and adverse theories. Dogmatic condemnations, 'bogey' cries, charges of fraud against mediums, fail to move or frighten him. He can 'speak what he knows and testify to what he has seen;' his positive and affirmative experience and testimony outweigh all the opposition of 'doubting Thomases' ...
— Genuine Mediumship or The Invisible Powers • Bhakta Vishita

... suppose this is what people would call a piece of splendid acting! Do you expect to frighten me, my dear, as you did Craven Le Noir, with ...
— Capitola's Peril - A Sequel to 'The Hidden Hand' • Mrs. E.D.E.N. Southworth

... evacuated Dyrrhachium, still held Corcyra, and Rutilius Lupus the Peloponnesus, during a time for the constitutional party. For a moment it seemed also as if the Pompeians would make a stand at Patrae in the Peloponnesus; but the accounts of the advance of Calenus sufficed to frighten them from that quarter. As little was there any attempt to maintain Corcyra. On the Italian and Sicilian coasts the Pompeian squadrons despatched thither after the victories of Dyrrhachium(36) had achieved not unimportant successes against the ports of Brundisium, Messana and Vibo, and at Messana ...
— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen

... side; we all rode except the Comtesse and the old Baron. It was too lovely; you are bounced up and down, and you have to hold on so tight, and every one screams, and the band plays; and I wish you could do it, Mamma. I am sure the thorough shaking would frighten your neuralgia away. I could have gone on for an hour, but there was such a lot to see, we could not spare the time for more than one turn. The Marquis whispered when he helped me off that his walk down the Champs Elysees had indeed been fortunate, as he had seen me, and ...
— The Visits of Elizabeth • Elinor Glyn

... hope that doesn't mean," returned Cope, with another ingenuous unchaining of his native resonance, "that you are afraid of getting a little too much of mine! I'm fond of novelty, and nobody can frighten me." ...
— Bertram Cope's Year • Henry Blake Fuller

... against the logs and, cutting away a few branches, let the heat into as snug a bedroom as any one could wish. The pine needles made as soft a carpet as the wealthiest could afford. Springs abound in the mountains, so water was plenty. I staked "Jeems" quite near so that the firelight would frighten away any wild thing that tried to harm him. Grass was very plentiful, so when he was made "comfy" I made our bed and fried our trout. The branches had torn off the bag in which I had my bread, so it was lost in the forest, but who needs bread when they have good, mealy potatoes? In a short ...
— Letters of a Woman Homesteader • Elinore Pruitt Stewart

... paradise that at first you possessed. Your liberty also, as yourselves do very well know, has been greatly widened and enlarged by me; whereas I found you a pent-up people. I have not laid any restraint upon you; you have no law, statute, or judgment of mine to frighten you; I call none of you to account for your doings, except the madman (you know who I mean). I have granted you to live, each man, like a prince, in his own, even with as little control from me as ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... angrily: "What ugly mask is this you have put on, Socrates? You speak rather like a priest trying to frighten rustics into paying their first-fruits, than a philosopher inquiring after that which is beautiful. But you shall never terrify me into believing that it is not a noble thing to speak out whatsoever a man believes, and to go forward boldly ...
— Phaethon • Charles Kingsley

... much older that you can frighten me. People on the toboggan always seem to be having a good time; the percentage of those whose car jumps ...
— A Hoosier Chronicle • Meredith Nicholson

... themselves from difficulties produced by the present stringency in money are prevented by their constant exposure to attack and disappointment by proceedings against them in bankruptcy, and, besides, the law is made use of in many cases by obdurate creditors to frighten or force debtors into a compliance with their wishes and into acts of injustice to other creditors and to themselves. I recommend that so much of said act as provides for involuntary bankruptcy on account of the ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Ulysses S. Grant • James D. Richardson

... all," she replied. "How could the birds work for you while you stood there blowing that terrible whistle? Birds would be as good friends to people as dogs are, if people did not frighten them so. But say no more. I hear father drinking at the spring two miles away, and he will be here in ...
— Stories to Read or Tell from Fairy Tales and Folklore • Laure Claire Foucher

... it did not frighten him as much as it did Jonathan, for he was almost fearless by nature, but he listened to Jonathan intently, and promised to do what he asked, and as soon as Jonathan had left him and gone to Saul, David fled to a secret place and ...
— Ten Boys from History • Kate Dickinson Sweetser

... odd in this speech, and the tone in which it was said. It seemed as if my companion was not always in his constant mind, or that he was willing to try if he could frighten me. I laughed at the extravagance of his language, however, and asked him in reply, if he was fool enough to believe that the foul fiend would play so ...
— Redgauntlet • Sir Walter Scott

... worry him and drive him home. But Chando made some dragon-flies and they ate up the mosquitos and he went on with his work. His wife made various other animals and sent them out, but Chando destroyed them all. At last she made a tiger and sent it to frighten him home; but Chando took up a handful of chips from the log he was cutting and threw them at the tiger and they turned into wild dogs and chased the tiger away. Ever since that no tiger will face ...
— Folklore of the Santal Parganas • Cecil Henry Bompas

... obeys, without the use of bridle or spur. But when fire is thrown at them, they are wonderfully afraid and run away, on which occasions it is impossible to stop them; on which account the Indians have many curious devices of fire-works to frighten the elephants, and make them run away. I saw an instance of the extraordinary strength of these animals while at Cananore, where some Mahometans endeavoured to draw a ship on the land, stem foremost, upon three rollers, on which occasion three ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume VII • Robert Kerr

... was a preparation would only make her father sneer at her for a second Hannah More. It was a language he did not understand; and as to the physical unwholesomeness, he simply did not choose to believe it. She almost wished Alwyn would for once be sick enough to frighten him, but that never happened, nor would he accept nurse's statement of the boy ...
— Nuttie's Father • Charlotte M. Yonge

... voice would arouse me, when he spoke kindly, and said, Catherine, look up for my sake—And look up, Julian, for mine!" she said, addressing the senseless corpse; "I know you do but counterfeit to frighten me, but I am not frightened," she added, with an hysterical attempt to laugh; and then instantly changing her tone, entreated him to "speak, were it but to curse my folly. Oh, the rudest word you ever said to me would now sound like the dearest you wasted ...
— The Monastery • Sir Walter Scott

... Rusty Snow, with such sudden gusto as to frighten his companions. The Duke stood up, trembling: he could not believe his eyes. Even Nita drew back with a scream of horror, which turned into dumfounded happiness as the unmistakable features of Warren Jarvis ...
— The Ghost Breaker - A Novel Based Upon the Play • Charles Goddard

... the Charter." Meetings were held in almost every part of the country, and speeches were delivered, and publications were circulated, of a most inflammatory character. Monster demonstrations were got up, and many who did not take part in them encouraged them, in hopes that they would frighten the Government into large concessions to the party of reform. A meeting of the leading reformers was called in London, and I was present. Young Stansfield, now member of Parliament, was there, and Sergeant Parry, and ...
— Modern Skepticism: A Journey Through the Land of Doubt and Back Again - A Life Story • Joseph Barker

... leave one in peace, ces gens-la," grumbled Aunt Morin. "If they want more concessions in price, do not let them frighten you. Go to Monsieur le Maire to have it arranged with justice. These people would eat the skin ...
— The Rough Road • William John Locke

... has opened the way to God the Father, by the sacrifice He made for us upon the cross. The holiness and justice of God need not frighten sinners and keep them back. Only let them cry to God in the name of Jesus, only let them plead the atoning blood of Jesus, and they shall find God upon a throne of grace, willing and ready to hear. The name of Jesus is a never-failing passport to our prayers. ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... the poor people live in this way, the princes and nobles lead a far different life; an eastern grandee could formerly do anything he chose, even to killing of his wives and slaves, and, only I do not wish to frighten you, I could tell you many stories about the cruelty of the Indian nobles. They live in great state, and are always surrounded by a throng of slaves, and attendants, who wait on them as they recline lazily on a pile of the ...
— The World's Fair • Anonymous

... lowered a boat or shot a seal in the week they had been drifting about in the forbidden sea; but the commander chose to consider all that he said to be a tissue of falsehoods, and adopted a bullying tone in an effort to frighten the boy. He threatened and cajoled by turns, but failed in the slightest to shake Bub's statements, and at last ordered him out ...
— Dutch Courage and Other Stories • Jack London

... one more sting. "It'll be pretty hard for you to see Danvers married, won't it?" Then, satisfied to see the quick flush on Eva's cheeks, he added casually: "I'll talk with Blair to-night. You needn't bother with him further." He knew how to frighten the woman. It was understood that she must follow instructions or receive ...
— A Man of Two Countries • Alice Harriman

... and said, "However, Mr Dott shall never know that you have said anything about it, and I will frighten him out of the cabin for ...
— Percival Keene • Frederick Marryat

... you! Quick, up and be doing! For help look to God's own Omnipotent Arm! Let no Tempter charm with the soft voice of wooing, Or frighten your hearts by the sounds of alarm. Lend, lend a hand! Lend, lend a hand! 'Midst trials and dangers ...
— The Emigrant Mechanic and Other Tales In Verse - Together With Numerous Songs Upon Canadian Subjects • Thomas Cowherd

... I don't 'hanker after' being held up or attacked, but these men are mistaken if they think to frighten me." ...
— The Crucifixion of Philip Strong • Charles M. Sheldon

... youth again. "You seem taken aback, young man?" he said. "Surely that is no such strange sight in Paris nowadays. What with Leaguers hanging Politiques, and Politiques hanging Leaguers, and both burning Huguenots, I thought a dead man was no longer a bogey to frighten children with!" ...
— In Kings' Byways • Stanley J. Weyman

... trying to slip his arm around her without being too abrupt about it; as if he were taming some creature of the wild which he wished not to frighten. Marion was drawing herself together, balancing herself to land a blow on his jaw and then run. She believed she could outrun him, now that they were in the trail. But at that moment she caught sight of a figure ...
— The Lookout Man • B. M. Bower

... on his handiwork with wide eyes, and then as I leaped to my feet something in my look seemed to frighten him, for without a word he turned and fled. But all my attention was centred in the boat, which was drifting slowly into mid-stream with Lisbeth still fast asleep. And as I watched its sluggish progress, with a sudden ...
— My Lady Caprice • Jeffrey Farnol

... said. And he looked at her with a dark frown, as though he would strive to frighten her into submission. If so, he might have saved ...
— The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne • Anthony Trollope

... ique viene el senor del Segre! Compare the familiar English expression used to frighten children: ...
— Legends, Tales and Poems • Gustavo Adolfo Becquer

... and more merciful opinion, when Cato standing up, began at once with great passion and vehemence to reproach Silanus for his change of opinion, and to attack Caesar, who would, he said, ruin the commonwealth by soft words and popular speeches, and was endeavoring to frighten the senate, when he himself ought to fear, and be thankful, if he escaped unpunished or unsuspected, who thus openly and boldly dared to protect the enemies of the state, and while finding no compassion for his own native country, brought, with ...
— Plutarch's Lives • A.H. Clough

... mentioned; among which are the shower bath, the vapor bath, and the medicated bath. The shower bath—for which purpose the water is commonly used cold—is but poorly adapted to the wants of infants. The shock is much greater than the common cold bath, and more apt to frighten; and fear is unfavorable to reaction, or the ...
— The Young Mother - Management of Children in Regard to Health • William A. Alcott

... ground and seemed to say that the new-comers were not to pass beyond it. They could not understand one another, and there seems to have been a want of management and discipline. Natives were seen in the woods, and to frighten them some muskets were fired into the air. A soldier who had lost patience, or who had forgotten his orders, fired low and killed a native. The others, with loud cries, fled. A Moor, who was the drummer ...
— The First Discovery of Australia and New Guinea • George Collingridge

... sort of laugh and those words of mine just used, are not Martian, they don't belong to these rarefied beings here. They have a human or earthly taint, and they frighten me. I seem so lonely sometimes. My stray fun which I once enjoyed on earth must somehow be forgotten here. I feel so irreverent at times, so full of horse play, but I must keep up the high key and act like the rest. Indeed for the most of the time ...
— The Certainty of a Future Life in Mars • L. P. Gratacap

... with mixed politeness and cordiality welcoming me to Streatham. She led me into the house, and addressed herself almost wholly for a few minutes to my father, as if to give me an assurance she did not mean to regard me as a show, or to distress or frighten me by drawing me out. Afterwards she took me up stairs, and showed me the house, and said she had very much wished to see me at Streatham; and should always think herself much obliged to Dr. Burney for ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 7 • Various

... promise not to quarrel any more with my godchild if we do. I am sure you frighten and upset her, Gritzko—promise me," ...
— His Hour • Elinor Glyn

... much. We were few in number, and the palings were hard and uncomfortable. But if they thought they were going to frighten us away by this demonstration, they ...
— Tom, Dick and Harry • Talbot Baines Reed

... man did not seem real; I—I felt as I have sometimes in dreams. But I had to do something, something desperate. There was an old gun standing back of the door—just a relic, and unloaded. Yet it occurred to me it might answer, might serve to frighten the fellow. I slipped back, grasped it, and returned, but—when I looked out ...
— Love Under Fire • Randall Parrish

... their book before they give it into the usher's hands to say by heart. He now feels a deep interest in the statistics of the Hall, and is horrified at hearing that "nine men out of thirteen were sent back last Thursday!" The subjects, too, that they were rejected upon frighten him just as much. One was plucked upon his anatomy; another, because he could not tell the difference between a daisy and a chamomile; and a third, after "being in" three hours and a quarter, was sent back, for his inability to explain the process of making malt from barley,—an ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 1, November 13, 1841 • Various

... be quiet for a minute or so, and then suddenly bound forward and give a whoop. I think that will frighten him, and enable ...
— The Wonder Island Boys: Exploring the Island • Roger Thompson Finlay

... intreat you, sir, to be a little more moderate," said the parson; "you frighten the young lady so, that you deprive her of all power ...
— The History of Tom Jones, a foundling • Henry Fielding

... They're my nieces—more's the pity, for they are regular Tartars. Mrs. Glenn sent for my daughter Alice to come down there; but, Lord bless you, I wouldn't dare send her! There would be a raging quarrel before twenty-four hours! My Alice has got a temper of her own. But, pshaw! I ought not to frighten you, my dear; they could not help ...
— Daisy Brooks - A Perilous Love • Laura Jean Libbey

... sad,' she said—not seeming to see his sadness was not for himself. It was as if she could not turn her back on him this last time without leaving him comforted. 'Shall I tell you a secret? Jean's ardent dreams needn't frighten you, if she has a child. That—from the beginning it was not the strong arm—it was the weakest, the little, little arms that subdued the fiercest ...
— The Convert • Elizabeth Robins

... aborigines made their appearance, and vented their delight at our appearance here by the emission of several howls, yells, gesticulations, and indecent actions, and, to hem us in with a circle of fire, to frighten us out, or roast us to death, they set fire to the triodia all round. We rode through ...
— Australia Twice Traversed, The Romance of Exploration • Ernest Giles

... artist." This man had a splendid person and a most arrogant spirit, with the air of a great soldier more than a sculptor, especially in regard to his vehement gestures and his resonant voice, together with a habit he had of knitting his brows, enough to frighten any man of courage. He kept talking every day about his gallant feats ...
— The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini • Benvenuto Cellini

... and lazy, As if the lead clung to him like a sinker. He paints no more, since he was sent to Fondi By Cardinal Ippolito to paint The fair Gonzaga. Ah, you should have seen him As I did, riding through the city gate, In his brown hood, attended by four horsemen, Completely armed, to frighten the banditti. I think he would have frightened them alone, For he was rounder ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

... in the fall of 1861, that the negroes should be enlisted as soldiers after they left their masters. This advanced step was regarded by most of the Cabinet with alarm. Mr. Lincoln thought it would frighten the border States out of the Union, and Mr. Seward and Mr. Chase thought it would never do ...
— The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln • Francis Fisher Browne

... frighten them," Bregg said. "Sometimes to the point of stampeding them, which is why we use them only in emergencies. The people do not connect the ...
— The Stars, My Brothers • Edmond Hamilton

... this to frighten you away from being religious? God forbid. Better to be religious and to fear and love God, though you were tempted by all the devils out of the pit, than to be irreligious and a mere animal, and be tempted only by your own carnal nature, as the animals are. Better to be tempted, ...
— All Saints' Day and Other Sermons • Charles Kingsley

... guillotine so moved her that she burst into tears, her nerves were shaken, terror clutched at her heart, she lost her head. Fraisier gloated over his triumph. When he saw his client hesitate, he thought that he had lost his chance; he had set himself to frighten and quell La Cibot till she was completely in his power, bound hand and foot. She had walked into his study as a fly walks into a spider's web; there she was doomed to remain, entangled in the toils of the little lawyer who meant to feed upon her. Out ...
— Poor Relations • Honore de Balzac

... corners; to ferment and take fire; evil is his good. From the Court! cries enlightened Patriotism: it is the cursed gold and wiles of Aristocrats that enlisted them; set them upon ruining an innocent Sieur Reveillon; to frighten the faint, and disgust men with the ...
— The French Revolution • Thomas Carlyle

... me; and always he would have an overseer to prod him with a knife if, in a moment of sickness or weariness, he faltered in his work, no matter how hard it might be. But by this time I had learned that the smugglers loved to frighten me. I know now that there was not a word of truth in any of the tales ...
— Jim Davis • John Masefield

... bear no more from her; I've come to the limit. She has heard of Lakelands: she has taken one of her hatreds to the place. She might have written, might have sent me a gentleman, privately. No: it must be done in dramatic style-for effect: her confidential—lawyer?—doctor?—butler! Perhaps to frighten me:—the boy she knew, and—poor soul! I don't mean to abuse her: but such conduct as this is downright brutal. I laugh at it, I snap my fingers. I can afford to despise it. Only I do say it ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... children looked like cherubs who'd been rolled in a flour-barrel, with their eyes shining and their cheeks glowing like Richmond roses, but I must have looked like something that had been put out to frighten the coyotes away. At any rate, there we were, all squealing like pigs and all powdered from tip to toe with the dry snow and all looking like Piutes on the war-path. And who should walk calmly about the corner of the buildings ...
— The Prairie Child • Arthur Stringer

... of the furniture began again, unmistakably in my room this time. Curiously enough, it did not frighten me at all nor suggest burglars (a far greater terror to me than ghosts!). I cannot at this distance of time remember why the idea of Mr Myers should have come to me in connection with these noises; but I am quite certain ...
— Seen and Unseen • E. Katharine Bates

... exclaimed. "Guy, this man is a bully. All his life it has been his pleasure to persecute the weak and defenceless. The papers are yours. I do not know what they are, nor does he," she added, pointing to where my father still crouched before the table. "Don't let him frighten you into giving them up. He is trying to drag you into the mesh with us. Don't let him! You have nothing to do with us, ...
— The Betrayal • E. Phillips Oppenheim

... when he had first asked her for it in the box. She had feared it then, and all the more she feared it now, because now she would have to do more than defend herself. She would take the offensive; she would make the attack, now that she had a question to ask. Why should the thought of it frighten her? If this was not the Crew sapphire she would be no worse off than she had been. If it was, her course would be clear. It seemed it should be simple, it should be easy to face Kerr with her question; but she was ...
— The Coast of Chance • Esther Chamberlain

... I will explain to you—perhaps you've guessed before The lesson that I always strive with might and main to teach— If you would frighten timid folk, alarm them with a roar, A happy, yappy, ...
— The Tale of Benny Badger • Arthur Scott Bailey

... of his body: but clear in intellect, and as it were mocking, he said, "If there were any power in you, it were enough that one of you should come on; but since the Lord has made you weak, therefore you try to frighten me by mere numbers. And a proof of your weakness is, that you imitate the shapes of brute animals." And taking courage, he said again, "If ye can, and have received power against me, delay not, but attack; but if ye cannot, ...
— The Hermits • Charles Kingsley

... it would frighten him into them still more," said Richard, "and perhaps give him such a dread of my father as would prevent him from ever being ...
— The Daisy Chain, or Aspirations • Charlotte Yonge

... and give her a fair field if they saw she was paying attention to a young man, or an old one? And what effect would this change in relations have upon men? Would it not render that sporadic shyness of which we have spoken epidemic? Would it frighten men, rendering their position less stable in their own eyes, or would it feminize them—that is, make them retiring, blushing, self-conscious beings? And would this change be of any injury to them in their necessary fight for ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner

... curiosity," he interrupted, with a laugh. "Yet I'll answer it. Last night I was on the threshold of hell. To-day I am within sight of my heaven—I have my eyes on it—hardly three feet to sever me. And now you'd better go. You'll neither see nor hear anything to frighten you if ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 6 • Various

... another day. Lascelles, Philippes, and she, Mrs. Dawson, had already drunk a bottle of champagne when interrupted by Doyle's coming. Lascelles was tipsy, had snatched his pistol and fired a shot to frighten Doyle, but had only enraged him, and then he had to run for his cab. He was bundled in and Doyle disposed of. It was only three blocks down to Beau Rivage, and thither Mike drove them in all the storm. ...
— Waring's Peril • Charles King



Words linked to "Frighten" :   dread, stir, dismay, shake, horrify, spook, frighten off, terrify, drive off, turn back, drive away, fear, appal, run off, scare, frighten away, affright, consternate, bluff, intimidate, dispel, alarm, frightening, stimulate, excite



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