Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1100-1200
Language: Old Norse
Origin: skirra, from skjarr 'shy, fearful'

scare

1 verb
     
scare1
1 [transitive] to make someone feel frightened [= frighten; ↪ afraid]:
Loud noises can scare animals or birds.
scare the life/living daylights/hell etc out of somebody (=scare someone very much)
The alarm scared the hell out of me.
scare the pants off somebody (=scare someone very much)
2

scare easily

to be frightened by things that are not very frightening:
I don't scare easily, you know.

scare somebody into something

phrasal verb
to make someone do something by frightening them or threatening them
scare somebody into doing something
You can't scare me into telling you anything.

scare somebody/something ↔ off/away

phrasal verb
1 to make an animal or person go away by frightening them:
She moved quietly to avoid scaring the birds away.
2 to make someone uncertain or worried so that they do not do something they were going to do:
Rising prices are scaring off many potential customers.

scare up something

phrasal verb
to make something although you have very few things to make it from:
Let me see if I can scare up something for you to eat.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
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