to do someone a frighten
- phrasal verb
- Irish
- Please don't sneak up on me like that—you'll do me a frighten!
Examples
-
My little brother did me a frighten by hiding in the closet and jumping out.
-
The movie suddenly did me a frighten with that jump scare.
-
He did his cat a frighten by dropping the vacuum cleaner.
-
Don't do her a frighten!
-
Why did you do me a frighten last night?
-
She loves to do her friends a frighten with her funny costumes during Halloween.
-
Every time I watch a horror film, my friend likes to do me a frighten with loud noises.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To make someone feel afraid or unsure of themselves
200
1.0
To make someone feel afraid
165
4.9
To frighten someone so they do what you want
119
6.7
To frighten someone very much by using threats or violence
75
3.7
To make someone react suddenly because they feel surprised or afraid
63
3.2
To make someone feel very frightened
59
6.7
To make someone very afraid
48
3.7
To frighten someone very much
10
7.4
Cause a strong feeling of fear or disgust with a creepy physical feeling
9
6.3
To make someone feel nervous and less confident
5
9.0
To frighten someone very much by a sudden event or loud noise
5
8.8
To make someone very afraid
4
3.2
To make someone feel afraid
4
8.2
To frighten someone very much
3
5.6
To make someone very afraid
3
6.9
To frighten someone very much
To frighten or startle someone and make them pull back suddenly
Antonyms
How Scary
3
4.8
63
3.2
∞
1.0
- Irish
75
3.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to scare or startle someone' is reasonably inferable from the constituents: 'do' (cause), 'someone' (person affected) and 'frighten' (to induce fear), and it parallels productive patterns like 'do someone a favour' or 'give someone a fright'. However, the phrasing is informal/dialectal and atypical (using a verb form where a noun is expected), so the exact form and usage may confuse learners without prior exposure.
Etymology
Do someone a frighten treats frighten like a small thing you can do to someone, similar to saying 'do someone a favour' — imagine giving someone a quick, surprising scare. So it means 'to scare or startle someone'.