The Horror

The Horror….

The Horror….

horror (n.)

early 14c., "feeling of disgust;" late 14c., "emotion of horror or dread," also "thing which excites horror," from Old French horror (12c., Modern French horreur) and directly from Latin horror "dread, veneration, religious awe," a figurative use, literally "a shaking, trembling (as with cold or fear), shudder, chill," from horrere "to bristle with fear, shudder," from PIE root *ghers- "to bristle" (source also of Sanskrit harsate "bristles," Avestan zarshayamna- "ruffling one's feathers," Latin eris (genitive) "hedgehog," Welsh garw "rough").

Also formerly in English "a shivering," especially as a symptom of disease or in reaction to a sour or bitter taste (1530s); "erection of the hairs on the skin" (1650s); "a ruffling as of water surface" (1630s). As a genre in film, 1934. Chamber of horrors originally (1849) was a gallery of notorious criminals in Madame Tussaud's wax exhibition. Other noun forms are horribility (14c., now rare or disused), horribleness (late 14c.), horridity (1620s), horridness (1610s).

also from early 14c.

Entries linking to horror

abhor (v.)

c. 1400, "to loathe, regard with repugnance, dislike intensely," literally "to shrink back with horror or dread," from Latin abhorrere "shrink back from, have an aversion for, shudder at," from ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + horrere "tremble at, shudder," literally "to bristle, be shaggy" (from PIE *ghers- "start out, stand out, rise to a point, bristle;" see horror).

Formerly also "fill (someone) with horror or loathing" (16c.). In Latin it was less intense: "be remote from, vary from, differ from, be out of harmony with." Related: Abhorred; abhorring.

arugula (n.)

edible cruciform plant (Eruca sativa) used originally in the Mediterranean region as a salad, 1967, the American English and Australian form of the name (via Italian immigrants), from a dialectal variant of Italian ruchetta, a diminutive form of ruca-, from Latin eruca, a name of some cabbage-like plant (from PIE *gher(s)-uka-, from root *ghers- "to bristle;" for which see horror).

In England, the usual name is rocket (see rocket (n.1)), which is from Italian ruchetta via French roquette. It also sometimes is called hedge mustard.

Chersonese

gorse

hair

hirsute

horrendous

horrible

horrid

horrific

horrify

horripilation

rocket

urchin

See all related words (14) >

Trends of horror

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

Others are reading

shiver (v.1)

tremble or quiver, shake suddenly," especially with cold, c. 1400, an alteration of chiveren "to shiver" (with cold, chills, horror...Related: Shivered; shivering.We shiver with cold or a sensation like that of cold ; we quake with fear ; we shudder with horror...

Moloch 

from Hebrew molekh, from melekh "king," altered by the Jews with the vowel points from basheth "shame" to express their horror...

curdle (v.)

To curdle (one's) blood, in the figurative sense of "inspire horror" is from c. 1600....

shocking (adj.)

It is attested by 1704 in a stronger sense of "causing a jolt of indignation, horror, etc."...

hideous (adj.)

.; Modern French hideux), from hisda "horror, fear," perhaps of Germanic origin....

electrocution (n.)

preliminary arrangements: the shaving of the head, the cutting of the clothing, the strapping in a chair, add much to the horror...

gruesome (adj.)

1560s, with -some (1) + grue, from Middle English gruen "feel horror, shudder" (c. 1300); not recorded in Old English or...

barmaid (n.)

woman who tends a bar," 1650s, from bar (n.2) + maid.The one employment from which Americans turn their faces in righteous horror...

abomination (n.)

., "feeling of disgust, hatred, loathing," from Old French abominacion "abomination, horror, repugnance, disgust" (13c.)...

phobia (n.)

"irrational fear, horror, or aversion; fear of an imaginary evil or undue fear of a real one," 1786, perhaps based on a similar...

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Dictionary entries near horror

horribly

horrid

horrific

horrify

horripilation

horror

hors d'oeuvre

hors de combat

horse

horse sense

horseback

updated on September 06, 2015

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