Meaning

noun the feeling of despair in the face of obstacles

noun fear resulting from the awareness of danger

verb lower someone's spirits; make downhearted

originFrom Middle English dismayen, from Anglo-Norman *desmaiier, alteration of Old French esmaier (“to frighten”), probably from Vulgar Latin *exmagare (“to deprive (someone) of strength, to disable”), from ex- + *magare (“to enable, empower”), from Proto-Germanic *maginą, *maganą (“might, power”), from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ- (“to be able”). Akin to Old High German magan, megin (“power, might,…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0