ppl. a. Forms: 4 afraied, affraied, 4–6 affrayed, 4–7 affraid(e, 5 afrayet, affrayt, 5–6 afrayed, 6 affrayd, afrayd(e, 6– afraid. Also aphet. frayed, fraid. [Orig. pa. pple. of afray, AFFRAY v. (cf. lay, laid; say, said, etc.) which, being more used than any other part, acquired an independent standing, and has retained the spelling afraid, while the vb. is affray.]
1. As pple. Alarmed, frightened; hence as adj., In a state of fear or apprehension, moved or actuated by fear. (As an adj. it never stands before a noun.)
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 16. Þe Kyng was alle affraied. Ibid., 323. Alle frayed he went fro þat cite.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Shipm. T., 400. This wyf was nat afered ne afrayed.
c. 1420. Anturs of Arther, xxxi. 9. (1842), 15. The freson was afrayet, and ferd of that fare.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., Affrayed, territus.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 3469. So sal thai fynd we ar no-thing affrayt.
1601. Shaks., Jul. Cæs., II. ii. 101. If Cæsar hide himselfe, shall they not whisper Loe, Cæsar is affraid?
1653. Holcroft, Procopius, II. 54. The Roman army … were troubled and affraid.
1671. Milton, P. R., II. 759. Back they recoild affraid.
Mod. Come on! Who’s afraid?
2. Const.
a. with of (sometimes omitted before a clause).
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2158. He þat of þe white beres So bremli was afraied.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, f i. His wyf made semblaunt as she therof were affrayed.
1599. H. Buttes, Diets dry Dinner (Arb.), 92. Such as are affrayed of roasted Pigge.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 117. I … of thy voice Affraid, being naked, hid my self. Ibid., XII. 493. What man can do against thee, not affraid.
1678. Bunyan, Pilgrim, I. (1862), 124. I was afraid on’t at the very first.
1855. Kingsley, Lett. (1878), I. 442. He first taught me not to be afraid of truth.
b. with inf. In fear of the consequence (to oneself) of; not having courage to.
1535. Coverdale, Ex. iii. 6. Moses couered his face, for he was afrayed to loke vpon God [Wyclif, He darst not loke aȝens God].
1580. Sidney, Arcadia, III. 317. They were affraid even to crie.
1610. Shaks., Temp., I. i. 47. We are lesse afraid to be drownde then thou art.
1716–8. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. x. 37. To see me afraid to handle a gun.
c. 1735. Pope, Prol. to Sat., 203. Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike.
1850. McCosh, Div. Govt., IV. ii. (1874), 498. Afraid to look upon the full purity of God.
c. with depend. cl.: lest, with subjunctive, introduces a deprecated contingency of which there is danger; that, with subjunctive, an unpleasant possibility; with indicative, an unpleasant probability or contemplated reality. The conjunctions are sometimes omitted.
1530. Palsgr., 422/1. He was as a frayde as any man you sawe this twelve monethes that I wolde have gyven hym a blowe.
1535. Coverdale, Tob. vi. 14. I am afrayed lest soch thinges happen vnto me also. [1611 Bible ibid., I am afraid, lest, if I goe in vnto her, I die.] 1 Macc. xii. 40. He was afrayed that Ionathas wolde not suffre him.
1596. Shaks., Merch. Ven., I. ii. 47. I am much afraid my Ladie his mother plaid false.
1635. A. Stafford, Fem. Glory (1869), 98. I was affraide it would have infected my other bookes.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, III. iv. 39. Perhaps thou art afraid Lest the night air may spoil its beauty.
1847. Lewes, Hist. Phil., II. 313. He was afraid lest the poetical spirit should be swept away along with the prophetical.
Mod. He is afraid that his dishonesty will be discovered. I am afraid that it is too true; afraid that we are not in time, We were afraid lest we should, or that we might hurt them.
d. of with gerund is found in all these senses, but chiefly = lest with subj., of which it is a more modern equivalent.
1727. Swift, Gulliver, II. viii. 174. I was affraid of trampling on every traveller that I met.
1855. Brewster, Newton, II. xxiv. 337. He was afraid of being known as the author of the work.
Mod. I am afraid of bathing there = to bathe there. I was afraid of treading on somebody’s toes = lest I should tread.
