worry

Etymology

From Middle English worien, werien, wirien, wirwen, wyryȝen (“to choke, strangle”), from Old English wyrġan, from Proto-Germanic *wurgijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *werǵʰ- (“bind, squeeze”). Cognate with Dutch worgen, wurgen, German würgen. Compare Latin urgere (“to press, push”), Sanskrit वृहति (vṛhati, “to tear out, pluck”), Lithuanian ver̃žti (“to string; squeeze”), Russian (poetic) отверза́ть (otverzátʹ, “to open”, literally “to untie”). Related to wring.

verb

1. (intransitive) To be troubled; to give way to mental anxiety or doubt.
   Stop worrying about your test; it’ll be fine.
2. (transitive) Disturb the peace of mind of; afflict with mental agitation or distress.
   Your tone of voice worries me.
   That worries the government, which fears that environmental activism could become the foundation for more general political opposition. 2013-08-10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848
3. (transitive) To harass; to irritate or distress.
   The President was worried into military action by persistent advisors.
4. (transitive) To seize or shake by the throat, especially of a dog or wolf.
   Your dog’s been worrying sheep again.
   This is the Dog, that worried the Cat, that killed the Rat, that ate the Malt, that lay in the Houſe that Jack built. 1784, The House that Jack Built, page 7
5. (transitive) To touch repeatedly, to fiddle with.
   So what if I wanted to touch my nose to the windshield? Who was it hurting? Why was it that he could repeatedly worry his change and bite his lower lip without the threat of punishment? 1997, David Sedaris, “A Plague of Tics”, in Naked, page 15
   No stories, no arguments. He just worries his prayer beads. 2002, Masha Hamilton, Staircase of a Thousand Steps, page 272
6. (transitive, obsolete, Scotland) To strangle.
   We read (Law's Memor. Pref. lix.) that "one John Brugh, a notorious warlock (wizard) in the parochin of Fossoquhy, by the space of thirty-six years, was worried at a stake and burned, 1643." 1891, “Journal of Jurisprudence and Scottish Law Magazine”, in Execution of the Judgment of Death, page 397

noun

1. A strong feeling of anxiety.
   I'm afflicted by worry throughout the night.
2. An instance or cause of such a feeling.
   My main worry is that I'll miss the train.
3. A person who causes worry.
   They could never make him speak a word, although he was old enough, in short, he was a perfect worry night and day. 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 305