take fright

English

Verb

take fright (third-person singular simple present takes fright, present participle taking fright, simple past took fright, past participle taken fright)

1. To suddenly become scared, frightened or panicked.
   • 1939 September, Charles E. Lee, “The Sirhowy Valley and its Railways—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 207:

     Meredith referred to the turnpike or carriage road constructed by the Tredegar Iron Company alongside the tramroad from Penllwyn Mawr to Tredegar, and said there was no fence between the two; he had experienced narrow escapes at times when on horseback, for horses occasionally took fright when meeting locomotives.

References

• “take fright”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.