- to fill, especially suddenly, with fear or terror; frighten; alarm: What scares me most about the disease is the residual effects on the lungs and heart.The ducks scared my sister by flying right toward her.
- to become frightened: That horse scares easily.
- a sudden fright or alarm, especially with little or no reason: I recently had a scare when my computer seemed to be malfunctioning, but it turned out to be nothing.
- a time or condition of alarm or worry: During the anthrax scare, people were leery of opening envelopes from addresses they didn't recognize.
- to frighten or alarm someone or something so much that they go away and stay away:Business leaders felt the fuel tax would scare away consumers fearing higher electricity bills and rising gasoline costs.The bee's sting isn't necessarily deadly, but it's painful enough to scare off predators.
- to obtain with effort; find or gather: We want to renovate the kitchen, but first we'll need to scare up some money.
- to fill or be filled with fear or alarm
- to drive (away) by frightening
- (tr) US and Canadian informal (foll by up)
- to produce (a meal) quickly from whatever is available
- to manage to find (something) quickly or with difficulty
- a sudden attack of fear or alarm
- a period of general fear or alarm
- causing (needless) fear or alarm
