From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtake frighttake frightFRIGHTENEDto be very afraid of something, especially so that you run away from it or do not do something that you were going to do The bird took fright and flew away. She had promised to marry him, but took fright at the last moment. → fright
Examples from the Corpus
take fright• Men had died because an untrained horse had taken fright at the sound of musketry.• If the telephones had rung you would have taken fright.• Lennon, however, took fright and hurried into a shot which sped wide of the target.• But when the City looked at the gap where macroeconomic policy should have been, it took fright.• The men steadying it took fright, threw down their long tongs, and fled.• Market makers took fright, presuming some one knew something they did not, and the price tumbled 30 p.c.• Kafka and Milena take fright and run off in different directions.• I approached him, but he did not take fright. 