afear

• affear

From Middle English aferen (“to frighten, terrify”), from Old English āfǣran (“to terrify, dismay”), from ā- (perfective prefix) + fǣran (“to frighten; to devour, raven”).

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

afear (third-person singular simple present afears, present participle afearing, simple past and past participle afeared)

1. (obsolete or dialectal) to imbue with fear; to affright; to terrify.
   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III, Scene ii:

     Be not afeared, the isle is full of noises,

     Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

     Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments

     Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,

     That if I then had wak'd after long sleep,

     Will make me sleep again, and then in dreaming

     The clouds methought would open and show riches

     Ready to drop upon me, that when I wak'd

     I cried to dream again.

• afeard

• afare

From feo (“ugly”).

• IPA^(key): /afe̞ˈaɾ/

afear (first-person singular present afeo, first-person singular preterite afeé, past participle afeado)

1. to make ugly; to uglify

   Antonym: embellecer

• afeamiento

• “afear” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.