Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (mainly juv.) anyone who is, or appears to be, frightened.

1925		Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 54: ‘Scaredy scaredy scarecat!’ yelled Ellen.
1935		D. Parker ‘The Waltz’ in Parker (1943) 93: It’s so nice to meet a man who isn’t a scaredy-cat about catching my beri-beri.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 200: scared-cat A coward.
1954		(con. 1920s–30s) J.O. Killens Youngblood (1956) 80: I’m not a scary cat.
1959		B. Hecht Sensualists (1961) 145: She’s a scaredy cat.
1959		I. & P. Opie Lore and Lang. Schoolchildren X 185: The boy [...] who will not take part in a prank [...] is a ‘scaredy’, a ‘scare-baby’.
1961		W.R. Burnett Round the Clock at Volari’s 32: ‘Al’s always shaking like a bone-fed dog. Can’t put no trust in him. Listens to all the scaredy cats’.
1983		M. Read Scouting for Boys in Best Radio Plays (1984) 190: miles: It looks jolly cold. Can’t I just paddle? spider: Don’t be a scaredy cat!
1991		F. Mac Anna Last of the High Kings 39: ‘Scaredy-cat,’ Frankie said.
1994		P. Quigley Borderland 37: ‘Don’t be a scaredy shite,’ he warned.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1989		T. Wolff (con. mid-1950s) This Boy’s Life 114: I came over to him and in this little scaredy-cat voice I say, Excuse me, what’s the problem?
1999		Guardian Weekend 26 June 3: I remember a lot of bitter, jealous, scaredy-cat male hacks.
2000		Indep. Rev. 19 May 10: This gives Perry the chance to test out his wiseacre/scaredy-cat persona on the big screen.
2006		G. Malkani Londonstani (2007) 289: I don’t understand why you’re being such a scaredy-cat wimp about all this.

1. (US) a sensational newspaper headline, thus any sensational writing; also attrib.

[1892		Shields Dly Gaz. 28 May n.p.: Editor (to reporter): ‘Are you engaged to be married, Mr Scarehead?’].
1898		Arizona Republican (Phoenix, AZ) 6 Oct. 8/3: The editor evidently drew the line at the modern ‘scare head’.
1903		Yellowstone Jrnl (Miles City, MT) 13 Oct. 2/2: It took nearly three hours to get all the matter [...] for a sensational article [...] to appear under a half column scare head.
1901		Preston Herald 17 Aug. 12/7: ‘Write your scare-head now,’ said the managing editor.
1909		Jewish Herald (Houston, TX) 19 Aug. 6/1: He must have anticiptaed ‘War in Turkey’ as a scare head.
1911		S. Ford Torchy 112: It was a Wall Street extra, with a scarehead story of how Blitzen had kept ’em guessin’ all day.
1918		‘Max Brand’ ‘Above the Law’ in Coll. Stories (1994) 31: Yep, I’m going to give this spiel to the papers [...] all scare heads.
1919		E. Pound Letter to Sir Horace Rumbold (1968) 152: I should like to caution you that you can find no surer means of making a few converts to Bolshevism [...] I don’t want to write ‘scare heads’ to you, and I don’t imagine the converts would be numerous.
1924		Hull Dly Mail 15 Dec. 7/2: Great harm can be done by a scare-head sub-editor putting headlines [...] in such a manner to drive his readers half-crazy with fear.
1934		Western Gaz. 19 Oct. 2/6: The other scare-head, the adverse balance of trade for this year, was [...] more adverse.
1941		Northern Whig (Antrim) 7 June 1/4: ‘A scarehead story’ that Britain was about all in.

2. (UK Und.) a puritanical religious preacher.

1906

E. Pugh Spoilers 38: You do it agin – you ole scare-head! – an’ I wouldn’t give a bunch o’ catsmeat for your measly carcase.

(US black) a Halloween party.

1999

‘The King of Halloween’ in Princeton Packet 10 Oct. 🌐 He and his wife Carolyn also spend the better part of the year designing and implementing one of the best Halloween scare-fests around. [...] ‘We were one of the first Kendall Park families. We made friends with a farmer on Stouts Lane who used to host these scare parties.’.