Forms: 1 fǽr, fér, 3–6 fere, 3 fer, 4–5 feer(e, 6 Sc. feir, 5–7 feare, 7– fear. Also 2, 5 fore. [OE. fǽr (the rare southern ME. fore may represent a variant *fár; cf. swár = swǽr) str. masc., sudden calamity, danger, corresponds to OS. fâr ambush (MDu. vaer), and except for the difference of declension to MDu. vâre fem. fear (cf. mod.Du. gevaar neut. danger), OHG. fâra fem. ambush, stratagem, danger (MHG. vâre; cf. MHG. gevære fem. and neut., mod.G. gefahr fem.), ON. fár neut. misfortune, plague; the sb. (:—OTeut. *færo-z, færo(m, færâ) is not recorded in Goth., which however has the derivative fêrja lier in wait.
The base fær- (:— pre-Teut. pēr-) is prob. one of the ablaut forms of the Aryan root per to go through (see FARE v.1), but the genesis of the sense is not clear; the current comparison with Gr. πεῖρα, L. perīculum trial, attempt, risk, seems to be misleading.]
† 1. In OE.: A sudden and terrible event; peril.
Beowulf, 1068. Hie se fær beþeat.
a. 1000. Cædmon’s Exod., 452 (Gr.). Wæron Eȝypte eft oncyrde, fluȝon forhtiȝende, fær onȝeton.
2. The emotion of pain or uneasiness caused by the sense of impending danger, or by the prospect of some possible evil.
Now the general term for all degrees of the emotion; in early use applied to its more violent extremes, now denoted by alarm, terror, fright, dread. In 14th c. sometimes pleonastically dread and fear.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 97. Hi … wið-utan fore godes blisse bodedan.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 82/15. He ne bi-lefte for no fere.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 2914 (Trin.). Into þe felde he drouȝe for feer.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XII. xxxiv. (1495), 434. The ostryche maye not see the horse wythout fere.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxxi. 140. Fals hert myght noȝt bere þe grete drede and fere þat þai had.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xv. 60. O Iupyter … hast thou for euer determyned … to gyue vnt vs tremoure and feere.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 9. Feare may force a man to cast beyonde the moone.
1588. A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., 17. He … may … without al feir say [etc.].
1611. Bible, Ex. xv. 16. Feare and dread shall fall vpon them, by the greatnesse of thine arme they shall be as still as a stone.
1671. Milton, P. R., III. 206. Where no hope is left, is left no fear.
1725. Watts, Logic, I. VI. § 12. We are in Danger of it [Passion], it raises our fear.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. 303. Fear has been the original parent of superstition.
1809–10. Coleridge, The Friend (1865), 107. To what purpose would a contract serve if, however it might be entered into through fear, it were deemed binding only in consequence of fear?
1875. Manning, Mission H. Ghost, x. 265. Fear without fortitude degenerates into timidity and cowardice.
1898. M. Robertson, Wreck of the Titan (1914), i. 1. A well-drilled fire-company soothed the fears of nervous ones and added to the general entertainment by daily practice with their apparatus.
b. personified.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. xii. 12. Next him was Feare, all arm’d from top to toe.
a. 1650. May, Old Couple, II. (1658), 13.
| Then Fear steps in, and tells me, if surpriz’d, | |
| My wretched life is forfeit to the law. |
1747. Collins, Ode, The Passions, 17.
| First Fear his hand, its skill to try, | |
| Amid the chords bewilder’d laid. |
1794. Coleridge, Poems, Religious Musings, 69.
| Pale Fear | |
| Haunted by ghastlier shapings than surround | |
| Moon-blasted Madness when he yells at midnight! |
c. An instance of the emotion; a particular apprehension of some future evil.
a. 1616. Beaum. & Fl., Knt. of Malta, II. v. Tender, and full of fears, our blushing sex is.
1701. De Foe, True-born Eng., 2.
| With needless Fears the Jealous Nation fill, | |
| And always have been sav’d against their Will. |
1874. Morley, Compromise (1886), 36. The old hopes have grown pale, the old fears dim; strong sanctions are become weak, and once vivid faiths very numb.
1879. Miss Braddon, Clov. Foot, IX. You need have no such fear.
d. A state of alarm or dread. Chiefly in phrase in fear; also, † To put in (a) fear, to fall into fear.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 402. Þo þe Saracens yt yseye, hii were somdel in fere.
1535. Coverdale, Esther xiv. 19. Delyuer me out of my feare.
1581. Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., III. (1586), 159 b. They will make it a sport to put their children in feare with tales of Robin good fellow, and such like.
1623. Bingham, Xenophon, 13. They, and Menon himselfe, were put in a feare, and some ran to their Armes, others stood still, doubting what the sequell would be.
1653. Holcroft, Procopius, I. 17. The Barbarians losing sight of the chiefe Ensigne, fell into feare and disorder, and retired within their Camp, having lost many in the fight.
1691. trans. Emilianne’s Frauds Romish Monkes, 389–90. Shut her up in one of the Large Presses of his Shop; where she continued the rest of that Night, and the Day following, in deadly Fears.
1736. Butler, Anal., I. iii. This state of fear being itself often a very considerable punishment.
1771. Mrs. Griffith, trans. Viaud’s Shipwreck, 200. I set out forthwith … in fear and trembling.
3. This emotion viewed with regard to an object; the state of fearing (something). a. Apprehension or dread of something that will or may happen in the future. Const. of, to with inf.; also with clause introduced by that or lest.
a. 1300. Body & Soul, 172, in Map’s Poems [MS. Laud 108, fol. 200]. Ne thorte us have friȝt ne fer that God ne wolde his blisse us sent.
1538. Starkey, England, I. ii. 43. He … for fere of the same daungerys runnyth in to a relygyouse house.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 355. They are ever in feare to lose that they have.
1647. Chas. I., Let., in Antiquary, I. 97. The feare of your being brought within the power of the army.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 459. The … king might … without any fear of opposition from England, proceed to annex Brabant.
1884. Manch. Exam., 20 May, 5/2. The fears of a general crisis are passing away.
b. esp. in phrase For fear, where in mod. use the sense of the sb. is often weakened; thus for fear of = ‘in order to avoid or prevent’; for fear that or lest (also colloq. with ellipsis of the conj.) = ‘lest.’
When fear in these locutions is intended to have its full sense, through or from is now usually substituted for for.
a. 1340. Cursor Mundi, 1908 (Trin.).
| But ȝitt bode he seuen dayes in rest | |
| For fere lest any damnyng brest. |
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xxii. 481. Wene ye that I shall do that ye saye for fere of deth?
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 95. Theod. Is it lawfull for a pastor or minister that hath a flocke to departe from the same, In the time of plague, pestilence, or the like, for feare of infection?
1597. Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 359.
| I was affrayd to mount sa hich, | |
| For feir to get ane fall. |
1600. Holland, Livy, XLIX. Epit. (1609), 1238. To depart out of those quarters before that Eumenes, a professed enemie to Perseus, came to the knowledge thereof, for feare to bee murdered.
1678. Trial of Ireland, Pickering, & Grove, in Howell, St. Trials (1816), VII. 95. Grove would have had the bullets to be champt, for fear that if he should shoot, if the bullets were round, the wound that might be given might be cured.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, x. 534.
| What then remains? Are we depriv’d of Will? | |
| Must we not Wish, for fear of wishing ill? |
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XII. xi. It is good to be charitable to those sort of people, for fear what may happen.
1791. ‘G. Gambado,’ Ann. Horsem., ix. (1809), 104. He showered down the pippins like hail upon us, and, as I saw he was about to descend, I, for fear of the worst, took to my heels.
c. Apprehensive feeling towards anything regarded as a source of danger, or towards a person regarded as able to inflict injury or punishment.
1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 346. We ne haue fere of no fon þat faren wiþ-oute.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. ix. 2. And ȝoure feer … be vpon alle the beestis of erthe.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 3295. For þe grete fore [rime-word euermore] þe whyche he had þo þere of þis virgyn Seynt Ede.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, iii. 80. But he could do none otherwyse, for feere of Charlemayn.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, II. 9. He stood in feare of the people of Tunis.
1841. Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 92. I have an enemy of whom I am in fear.
d. A mingled feeling of dread and reverence towards God (formerly also, towards any rightful authority).
Wyclif has always drede in this sense. The distinction between servile and filial fear (see quot. 1860), in Lat. timor servilis, filialis, is stated (as already generally current) by Thomas Aquinas, Summa, II. II. xix.
c. 1400. Solomon’s Bk. Wisdom, 42. Wite þi douttren with eye wel, þat þai haue of þe fere.
1535. Coverdale, Ecclus. ii. 6. Holde fast his feare, and growe therin.
1548–9. (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, 75. A perpetuall feare … of thy holy name.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. iii. 200. He … vndertakes them with a most Christian-like feare.
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 130. There is a hellish feare, & there is a holy feare, a slauish feare, and a sonlike feare.
1611. Bible, Ps. cxi. 10. The feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedome.
1729. Butler, Serm., Wks. 1874, II. 82. He is … under no other force … than the fear of God.
1851. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., II. III. I. xiv. § 27. That sacred dread of all offence to him, which is called the Fear of God.
1860. Pusey, The Minor Prophets, 598 note. Fear is twofold; servile, whereby punishment, not fault, is dreaded; filial, by which fault is feared.
1875. Manning, Mission H. Ghost, xi. 295. Holy fear is the beginning of the obedience of the children of God; piety is the filial affection of the sons of God; and fortitude makes the good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
4. Solicitude, anxiety for the safety of a person or thing. Also in phrase (for, in) fear of one’s life.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xlix. 141. He lept in-to one of the shippes of Eneas that was nyghe by the shores, lyke as it had for grete feer of his lyffe.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia (1622), 68. Then care, not feare, or feare, not for themselves, altered something the countenances of the two Lovers, but so, as any man might perceive, was rather an assembling of powers, than dismayednesse of courage.
1611. Bible, 2 Macc. xv. 18. The … principal feare, was for the holy Temple.
1862. The Saturday Review, XIV. 569/2. At a later period, when wandering in fear of his life over Italy, almost penniless, and under a feigned name, he thinks it necessary to pay a visit, as a grandee of Spain, to the Spanish Ambassador at Turin.
5. In various objective senses.
a. Ground or reason for alarm. Chiefly in phrase (there is) no fear; now often used as an exclamation.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. lii[i]. 5. They are afrayed, where no feare is.
1634. Massinger, Very Woman, III. i.
| Merch. Give him but sage and butter in a morning, | |
| And there’s no fear. |
1699. W. Hacke, Collect. Orig. Voy., IV. 7. Assuring him that he is to stay out but three Years at most, and in that Time, no fear but they might get two or three thousand Dollards per Man.
1861. Times, 25 May. ‘Is there any fear, Captain?’
1887. E. E. Money, A Little Dutch Maiden (1888), 338. He will never go hence without seeing the devil—no fear.
† b. Intimidation. Obs.
1426. in Surtees Misc. (1890), 8. Witht oute distresse or fere done to him.
† c. Capability of inspiring fear, formidableness.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., II. i. 190.
| Treb. There is no feare in him; let him not dye, | |
| For he will liue, and laugh at this heereafter. |
1654. Goddard, in Introd. Burton’s Diary (1828), I. 46. Our wars will have much more reputation and fear, when … a whole nation will not consent to a war lightly.
† d. An object of fear; something that is, or is to be, feared. In the Bible occas. by a Hebraism, the object of (a person’s) religious reverence, the God of (his) worship.
1535. Coverdale, Prov. x. 29. The waye of the Lorde geueth a corage vnto ye godly, but it is a feare for wicked doers.
1561. Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573), 204 b. Therfore let God be our feare.
1607. Heywood, Woman killed, Wks. 1874, II. 100.
| The rumor of this feare stretcht to my eares, | |
| And I am come to know if you be wounded. |
1611. Bible, Gen. xxxi. 53. Iacob sware by the feare of his father Isaac. Ibid., Prov. i. 26. I wil mocke when your feare commeth.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 285.
| His [Satan’s] fraud is then thy fear, which plain inferrs | |
| Thy equal fear that my firm Faith and Love | |
| Can by his fraud be shak’n or seduc’t. |
6. Comb. a. objective with adj. as fear-free; with pr. pple., as fear-inspiring; b. instrumental with pa. pples., as fear-broken, -created, -depressed, † -fled, -froze, -palsied, -pursued, -shaken, -shook, -smitten, -spurred, -surprised, -tangled, -taught; fear-blast v., to blast (a person) with fear; fear-struck, -strucken, struck with or overwhelmed by fear; fear-worship, worship resulting from fear.
1593. Nashe, Four Lett. Confut., 74. I *fearblaste thee nowe but with the winde of my weapon.
1647. Fuller, Good Th. in Worse T. (1841), 106. Soldiers’ hearts might be *fear-broken by the score of their sins who were no soldiers.
1777. R. Potter, Æschylus, 190, Seven agst. Th.
| Is this a tale of *fear-created woe? | |
| In very deed before our eyes | |
| A twofold scene of misery lies, | |
| And from a double slaughter double horrors flow. |
1597. Daniel, Civ. Wars, II. x.
| And *fear-depressed enuie (pent before) | |
| When fit occasion thus vnlockt the dore. |
1611. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. III., Schisme, 900.
| So from besieg’d Samaria each man hies, | |
| Unto the Tents of *fear-fled Enemies. |
a. 1679. Earl Orrery, Guzman, II. Cannot you give me another [charm] to make me *Fear-free?
1791. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., I. 123.
| And deep-ingulph’d the Demon dwells within; | |
| Springs o’er the *fear-froze crew with harpy-claws. |
1812. Crabbe, Dumb Orators, Tales, i. An awe-compelling frown, and *fear-inspiring size.
1842. Sir A. de Vere, A Song of Faith, 252.
| Think not of Cranmer to his chains descending, | |
| *Fear-palsied, and his mind scarce half awake. |
1798. Sotheby, trans. Wieland’s Oberon (1826), I. 53.
| Nor ceas’d the wight to scamper, *fear-pursu’d, | |
| Till clear from out the compass of the wood, | |
| They find themselves at last amid an open space. |
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, V. xvi. 381. Then came Selenissas death … into his *feare-shaken mind.
a. 1756. Collins, Ode on Highlands, 119.
| His *fear-shook limbs have lost their youthful force, | |
| And down the waves he floats, a pale and breathless corse! |
1870. Bryant, Iliad, II. XVII. 190.
| He spake: Idomeneus, *fear-smitten, lashed | |
| The long-maned steeds that hurried toward the fleet. |
c. 1626. Dick of Devon, II. v., in Bullen, Old Pl., II. 42.
| Some of the *feare-spurrd villaines | |
| Were overturnd by slaughter in their flight, | |
| Others are taken and are sure to find | |
| Our lawes as sharpe as either Sword or Bullet. |
1636. Massinger, Bashf. Lover, II. v.
| Now glut yourselves with prey; let not the night, | |
| Nor these thick woods, give sanctuary to | |
| The *fear-struck hares, our enemies. |
1776. Mickle, trans. Camoens’ Lusiad, II. 53.
| The Moors start, fear-struck, at the horrid sound, | |
| As if the rage of combat roar’d around. |
1870. Bryant, Iliad, II. XXI. 282.
| Fear-struck, yet hoping to avoid the doom | |
| Of bitter death. |
1613. Drumm. of Hawth., Cypress Grove, Wks. (1711), 124. Why shouldst thou be *fear-strucken and discomforted, for thy Parting from this mortal Bride thy Body, since it it but for a Time.
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. ii. 203.
| By them thrice he walkt, | |
| By their opprest and *feare-surprized eyes. |
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., II. III. 149.
| His hope, *fear-tangled, and the ill | |
| That might be, bound his eyes full fast | |
| A long while. |
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. IV., ccxl.
| In the wild flame, the *feare-taught Politicks | |
| Evade the Force, by yeilding to the Power. |
1849. H. Mayo, Truths Pop. Superst., vi. 85. Somnambulism … has had no *fear-worship.
1865. Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., X. 145. To learn the language of Fear-worship we must go back to the very beginning.
