scheuchen

From Middle High German schiuhen (see there for more), making it a doublet of scheuen. The fortified pronunciation of <h> word-finally and preconsonantally in Middle High German is generalized into all forms, first as a byform of scheuen, then becoming specific to certain senses^[1][2].

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɔɪçən/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: scheu‧chen

scheuchen (weak, third-person singular present scheucht, past tense scheuchte, past participle gescheucht, auxiliary haben)

1. (transitive) to shoo, to drive (to make someone/something move quickly in a certain direction by way of threats, authority, loud noises, etc.)

   Ein Vogel hatte sich in unser Wohnzimmer verirrt, also haben wir ihn durch die Hintertür wieder nach draußen gescheucht.

   A bird had strayed into our living room, so we shooed it back outside through the back door.

   Er wollte uns verhauen und hat uns locker zehn Minuten durch die Gegend gescheucht.

   He wanted to beat us up and we had to run away from him for what was easily ten minutes.

   (literally, “he forced us to run all over the place”)

   • 1756–1799, Goethe, edited by Karl Eibl, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Gedichte 1756–1799, 1st edition, volume 1, Frankfurt am Main: Deutscher Klassiker Verlag, →ISBN, page 9:

     Der Morgen kam; es scheuchten seine Tritte
     Den leisen Schlaf, der mich gelind umfing,
     Daß ich erwacht, aus meiner stillen Hütte
     Den Berg hinauf mit frischer Seele ging;
     Ich freute mich bei einem jeden Schritte
     Der neuen Blume die voll Tropfen hing;
     Der junge Tag erhob sich mit Entzücken,
     Und alles war erquickt mich zu erquicken.

     Morning came; its footsteps scattered
     The gentle sleep which had gently enveloped me,
     So that I awoke, from my quiet hut
     Walked up the mountain with a fresh spirit;
     I rejoiced with every step
     of the new flowers hanging heavy with dew;
     The young day rose with delight,
     and everything was refreshed to refresh me.

• scheuen
• scheu

• “scheuchen”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)
• “scheuchen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “scheuchen” in Duden online
• “scheuchen” in OpenThesaurus.de