fray
A consequence of rubbing, unravelling, or wearing awayA consequence of rubbing, unravelling, or wearing away; a fraying; also, a place where fraying has occurred.
» My nerves are frayed.
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
7 senses(archaic, intransitive, obsolete)A consequence of rubbing, unravelling, or wearing away; a fraying; also, a place where fraying has occurred.
The laces frayed at the cut end.
(archaic, countable, obsolete)A noisy commotion, especially resulting from fighting; a brawl, a fight; also, a loud quarrel.
Though they did not know the reason for the dispute, they did not hesitate to leap into the fray.
Schlacht, Schlägerei, Auseinandersetzung
дра́каdráka, борьба́borʹbá, сраже́ниеsražénije
a noisy fight
(archaic, countable, figuratively, obsolete)A heated argument; a war of words.
(archaic, obsolete, uncountable)Conflict, disagreement.
(archaic, countable, obsolete)An assault or attack.
(archaic, countable, obsolete)A loud noise; a cacophony, a din.
(archaic, obsolete, uncountable)Fright, terror; (countable) an instance of this.
Examples
17 sentencesMy nerves are frayed.
Detective Columbo is always in a frayed raincoat.
Детектив Коломбо завжди одягнутий в потертий плащ. — ascolto
ruДетектив Коломбо всегда одет в поношенный плащ. — kuotutau
deDetektiv Columbo trägt stets einen abgenutzen Regenmantel. — al_ex_an_der
Bugger, the lining in my coat is fraying.
deMist, das Futter von meinem Mantel löst sich. — Fingerhut
All this bickering is starting to fray my nerves.
ruВесь этот спор начинает действовать мне на нервы. — Robertpaulson
The cuffs of his suit jacket are badly frayed.
ruМанжеты его пиджака сильно протёрлись. — AntonKhorev
Translations
6 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
The verb is derived from Late Middle English fraien (“to beat so as to cause bruising, toThe 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.
From Late Middle English frai (“an assault, attack; a brawl, fight; disturbance, uproar; fine for assault or breach of the peace”), an aphetic variant of affrai, effrai (“an assault, attack; a brawl, fight; disturbance, uproar; public disturbance, riot; dismay; fear; something frightening”), then:
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: fraysSynonyms
4 synonyms- a noisy fight:affraydisturbanceruffle
Word family
3 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.