fray
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: The verb is derived from Late Middle English fraien (“to beat so as to cause bruising, to bruise; to crush; to rub; to wear, wear off”), borrowed from Old French fraier, freier, freiier (modern French frayer (“to clear, open up (a path, etc.); (figuratively) to find one’s way through (something); (obsolete) to rub”)), from Latin fricāre, the present active infinitive of fricō (“to chafe; to rub”), an intensive form of friō (“to break into pieces, crumble; to rub”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- (“to cut”). Sense 1.2 (“to force or make (a path, way, etc.) through”) is derived from modern French frayer: see above.
The noun is derived from the verb.
Inflected forms:
form: frays
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: fraying
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: frayed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: frayed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: To rub or wear away (something); to cause (something made of strands twisted or woven together, such as cloth or rope) to unravel through friction; also, to irritate (something) through chafing or rubbing; to chafe.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
transitive
examples: S. Paul alſo defineth the law to be the knowlege of ſyn, yͭ is, which accuſeth, frayeth the cõſcience, & maketh ſynnes knowen.
[W]ith the help of her consorts, [she] carried off the following goods of her said lady; viz. […] four striped muslin night-rails very little frayed; […]
Everything told of long use and quiet slow decay; the very bell-rope in the porch was frayed into a fringe, and hoary with old age.
It was a little past mid-day when the four-horse stage-coach by which I was a passenger, got into the ravel of traffic frayed out about the Cross-Keys, Wood-street, Cheapside, London.
gloss: To rub or wear away (something); to cause (something made of strands twisted or woven together, such as cloth or rope) to unravel through friction; also, to irritate (something) through chafing or rubbing; to chafe.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
specifically
transitive
gloss: To force or make (a path, way, etc.) through.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To bruise (someone or something); also, to take the virginity of (someone, usually a female person); to deflower.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: [T]his ſame Ladie Dryopee, the fayreſt Ladye tho / In all the land of Oechalye. Whom beeing then no mayd / (For why the God of Delos and of Delphos had her frayd) / Andræmon taketh too hys wyfe, and thinkes him well apayd.
gloss: To become unravelled or worn; to unravel.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To rub.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Another distance, I do not know how far, of dry dark heather continually fraying against my knees, is traversed, when in front appears a coombe, overgrown with heather from summit to foot, and I stop suddenly.
gloss: To rub.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
specifically
examples: His [a hart's] head when it commeth firſt out, hath a ruſſet pyll vpon it, the which is called Veluet,[…]. When his head is growne out to the full bigneſſe, then he rubbeth of that pyll, and that is called fraying of his head.
And foresters have busy been, / To track the buck in thicket green; / […] / We can shew the marks he made, / When ’gainst the oak his antlers fray’d; […]
Towards the end of July the harbourer begins to look round after the stags and notice their whereabouts. They are then fraying, rubbing the velvet off their new horns against the trees. He observes where the signs of fraying first appear, indicating that a full-grown stag is in the neighbourhood, as the best stags usually fray earliest.
gloss: Of a person's mental strength, nerves, temper, etc.: to become exhausted or worn out.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: The hectic day ended in her nerves frayed.
Related words: affricate
dentifrice
fricative
friction
Derived words: antifray
frayable
frayed
fraying
frayproof
nonfraying
unfrayed
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: оръфвам
roman: orǎfvam
lang: Catalan
word: desfilar-se
lang: Catalan
word: esfilagarsar
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 开线
roman: kāixiàn
lang: Czech
word: třepit
lang: Czech
word: roztřepit
lang: Dutch
word: ontrafelen
lang: Finnish
word: liestyä
lang: Finnish
word: harsuuntua
lang: Finnish
word: purkaantua
lang: Finnish
word: rispaantua
lang: French
word: effilocher
lang: Galician
word: esferpellar
lang: Galician
word: esfiañar
lang: Galician
word: esgarnachar
lang: Galician
word: esmarfallar
lang: Galician
word: esmilfar
lang: Galician
word: esmilfallar
lang: German
word: ausfransen
lang: Hebrew
word: התבלה
roman: hitbalá
lang: Hebrew
word: ריפט
roman: ripét
lang: Hungarian
word: elkoptat
lang: Hungarian
word: kikoptat
lang: Hungarian
word: koptat
lang: Hungarian
word: elnyű
lang: Hungarian
word: kirojtosít
lang: Māori
word: tāwekoweko
lang: Norwegian
word: rakne
lang: Occitan
word: desfilar
lang: Occitan
word: desfilargar
lang: Portuguese
word: desfiar
lang: Russian
word: расплета́ться
roman: raspletátʹsja
lang: Russian
word: распуска́ться
roman: raspuskátʹsja
lang: Spanish
word: deshilachar
lang: Spanish
word: desflecar
lang: Spanish
word: deshilar
lang: Spanish
word: desflocar
lang: Spanish
word: destejer
lang: Turkish
word: çözülmek
lang: Ukrainian
word: торочитися
roman: toročytysja
lang: Ukrainian
word: обтріпуватися
roman: obtripuvatysja
lang: Ukrainian
word: пошарпатися
roman: pošarpatysja
lang: Bulgarian
word: износвам
roman: iznosvam
lang: Bulgarian
word: протърквам
roman: protǎrkvam
lang: Czech
word: dřít
lang: Finnish
word: hieroa
lang: Galician
word: conroer
lang: Galician
word: esmoer
lang: Galician
word: luir
lang: Galician
word: relaer
lang: Hungarian
word: dörzsöl
lang: Hungarian
word: horzsol