worrit
verbEtymology Dialectal alteration of worry, 19th c.
1
Dialectal, Nonstandard To cause (someone) to be anxious; to worry.
- “Yes; don't worrit your poor mother,” said Mrs. Sanders. “She's quite enough to worrit her, as it is, without you, Tommy,” said Mrs. Cluppins, with sympathising resignation.1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter XXVI, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 271:
- 'Och, it's you, is it, Mr Kilmartin? Wherever have ye been? The young lady was fair worrit to death when ye didna come home.'1940, Hammond Innes, The Trojan Horse, published 2012, unnumbered page:
1 more example
- I dinna wish to worrit myself about ye running off to the nunnery or wi' another man.2010, Amanda Forester, The Highlander’s Sword, page 169:
2
Dialectal, Nonstandard To be anxious; to worry.
- Well Sir, would you believe it, there’s that in Mr Pontifex’s face which is just like young Watkins; he looks that worrited and scrunched up at times, but it’s never for the same reason, […]1873–1884 (date written), Samuel Butler, edited by R[ichard] A[lexander] Streatfeild, The Way of All Flesh, London: Grant Richards, published 1903, →OCLC:
- I'd best be turning for home. Mrs. Maggot will be worriting with the night getting thick.1954 July 29, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings, London: George Allen & Unwin, →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- worriter