Dread. n.s. [drad, Saxon.]

1. Fear; terrour; affright.

   Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak,
   When pow'r to flatt'ry bows? To plainness honour
   Is bound, when majesty to folly falls. Shakesp. King Lear.

   But was ever any wicked man free from the stings of a guilty conscience, from the secret dread of divine displeasure, and of the vengeance of another world? Tillotson, Serm. 4.

   If our fears can be awakened with the dread of evil, he has armed his laws with the terrour of eternal misery. Rogers.

2. Habitual fear; awe.

   The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth. Gen. ix. 2.

3. The person or thing feared; the cause of fear.

   To thee, of all our good the sacred spring;
   To thee, our dearest dread; to thee, our softer king. Prior.