fray
pronunciation
How to pronounce fray in British English:
UK [freɪ]
How to pronounce fray in American English:
US [fre]
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- Noun:
- a noisy fight
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- Verb:
- wear away by rubbing
- cause friction
Word Origin
- fray (n.)
- mid-14c., "feeling of alarm," shortening of affray (q.v.; see also afraid). Meaning "a brawl, a fight" is from early 15c. (late 14c. in Anglo-Latin). Fraymaker "fighter, brawler" is found in a 1530s statute recorded by Prynne ("Soveraigne Power of Parliaments and Kingdomes," 1643). Nares' "Glossary" has frayment (1540s).
- fray (v.)
- "wear off by rubbing," c. 1400, from Old French fraiier, froiier "to rub against, scrape; thrust against" (also in reference to copulation), from Latin fricare "to rub, rub down" (see friction). Intransitive sense "to ravel out" (of fabric, etc.) is from 1721. The noun meaning "a frayed place in a garment" is from 1620s. Related: Frayed; fraying.
Example
- 1. Since the pages fray along the edges .
- 2. But as a dell creditor , microsoft could see its relationships with other hardware allies fray .
- 3. Were mr meles to leave in a hurry , relations between the young modernisers and the powerful old guard might fray .
- 4. When both go up together they suggest that the delicate strands of trust that underpin the financial system are again beginning to fray .