fear

Etymology 1

From Middle English feer, fere, fer, from Old English fǣr, ġefǣr (“calamity, sudden danger, peril, sudden attack, terrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *fērō, *fērą (“danger”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to attempt, try, research, risk”). Cognate with Dutch gevaar (“danger, risk, peril”), German Gefahr (“danger, risk, hazard”), Swedish fara (“danger, risk, peril”), Latin perīculum (“danger, risk, trial”), Albanian frikë (“fear, danger”), Romanian frică. Doublet of peril. The verb is from Middle English feren, from Old English fǣran (“to frighten, raven”), from the noun. Cognate with the archaic Dutch verb varen (“to fear; to cause fear”).

noun

1. (uncountable) A strong, uncontrollable, unpleasant emotion or feeling caused by actual or perceived danger or threat.
   He was struck by fear on seeing the snake.
   ‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police[…]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?’ 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess
2. (countable) A phobia, a sense of fear induced by something or someone.
   Not everybody has the same fears.  I have a fear of ants.
3. (uncountable) Terrified veneration or reverence, particularly towards God, gods, or sovereigns.
4. (UK, with definite article, "the fear") A feeling of dread and anxiety when waking after drinking a lot of alcohol, wondering what one did while drunk.
   Her feeling of humiliation had intensified as the day had gone on and her hangover had worsened. She now also had 'the fear' to contend with, […] 2019, Ruth Kelly, The Little Vineyard in Provence
   Mark Ratcliffe, The Step Down: A Very Scottish Crime He had the fear, that feeling of dread that you've done something really embarrassing. The fear was a hundred times worse than the hangover. No, a thousand times worse.

verb

1. (transitive) To be afraid of (something or someone); to consider or expect (something or someone) with alarm.
   I fear the worst will happen.
   One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation of attacks on schools[…]as children, teachers or school buildings become the targets of attacks. Parents fear sending their children to school. Girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence. 2013-07-19, Mark Tran, “Denied an education by war”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 1
2. (intransitive) To feel fear.
   Never fear; help is always near.
3. (intransitive, used with for) To worry about, to feel concern for, to be afraid for.
   She fears for her son’s safety.
4. (transitive) To venerate; to feel awe towards.
   People who fear God can be found in Christian churches.
5. (transitive) To regret.
   I fear I have bad news for you: your husband has died.
6. (obsolete, transitive) To cause fear to; to frighten.
7. (obsolete, transitive) To be anxious or solicitous for.
8. (obsolete, transitive) To suspect; to doubt.

Etymology 2

From Middle English fere, feore, from Old English fēre (“able to go, fit for service”), from Proto-Germanic *fōriz (“passable”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to put across, ferry”). Cognate with Scots fere, feir (“well, active, sound”), Middle High German gevüere (“able, capable, fit, serviceable”), Swedish för (“capable, able, stout”), Icelandic færr (“able”). Related to fare.

adj

1. (dialectal) Able; capable; stout; strong; sound.
   hale and fear