Definition of "spooking" []

• Present participle of spook. (verb)

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• "Last week, it emerged that the state-owned water company had bought 34 top-of-the-range BMWs, Renaults and Citroëns for its managers, adding to the pile of government debt that is once again spooking markets."
• "Carmona (now ignominiously known as Pedro the Brief) succeeded in spooking the public and prompting widespread protests — and the army reinstalled Chávez just two days after removing him (but not before an eager Bush White House had tacitly recognized Carmona’s government)."
• "Elsewhere, Newsweek's "Treasury --- Is Anyone Out There?" briefly raises the question (without answering it, really) as to whether vetting of high-level Obama Administration job candidates has become a bit too stringent, with an unidentified IRS official, temporarily assigned to the Senate Finance Committee, supposedly "spooking" prospective nominees with tough queries."