Brend child fuir fordredeth [is in dread of].
[c 1250 Proverbs of Hending in Anglia (1881) IV. 199]
‘For evermore gladly,’ as I rede, ‘Brent child of fier hath mych drede.’
[c 1400 Romaunt of Rose l. 1820]
A burnt childe dreadeth the fire. ‥Thou mayst happely forsweare thy selfe, but thou shalt neuer delude me.
[1580 Lyly Euphues & his England II. 92]
He then observed, that a burnt child dreads the fire;‥that a Jew had lately passed thro' France, who had put off false Bank notes, and that I might‥have taken some.
[1777 P. Thicknesse Journey I. xviii.]
She will not touch a match or a lighted candle‥which proves that the proverb is true which says: a burnt child dreads the fire.
[1889 Pictorial Proverbs for Little People 5]
The burnt child fears the fire, and bitter experience had taught Pongo Twistleton to view with concern the presence in his midst of Ickenham's fifth earl.
[1948 Wodehouse Uncle Dynamite ii. vii.]
The burned child fears the fire and when dawn breaks next Tuesday voters may pull the covers over their ringing heads and refuse to get out of bed.
[1984 Newsweek 5 Nov. 98]
Related to: experience
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
