• (RP, America) enPR: frā, IPA: /fɹeɪ/

The verb is derived from Late Middle English fraien, borrowed from Old French fraier, freier, freiier (modern French frayer), from Latin fricāre, the present active infinitive of fricō, an intensive form of friō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH-.

The noun is derived from the verb.

fray (frays, present participle fraying; simple past and past participle frayed)

1. (transitive)
   1. (also, figuratively) 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.
      • 1710 November 13 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele], “Thursday, November 2, 1710”, in The Tatler, number 245; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume III, London: I. Walker and Co.;  […], 1822, →OCLC ↗, page 309 ↗:

        [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; […]

        The spelling has been modernized.

      • 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter the Seventeenth”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC ↗, page 182 ↗:

        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.

      • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter I, in Great Expectations […], volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC ↗, page 1 ↗:

        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.

      1. (specifically) Of a deer: to rub (its antlers or head) against a tree, etc., to remove the velvet from antlers or to mark territory; also, to rub its antlers against (a tree, etc.) for that purpose.
   2. To force or make (a path, way, etc.) through.
   3. (obsolete) To bruise (someone or something); also, to take the virginity of (someone, usually a female person); to deflower.
      • 1567, Ovid, “The Ninth Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC ↗, folio 115, verso ↗:

        [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.

2. (intransitive)
   1. To become unravelled or worn; to unravel.

      The laces frayed at the cut end.

      • 1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter III, in Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC ↗, pages 38–39 ↗:

        "And pray, sir, what do [you] think of Miss Morland's gown?" / "It is very pretty, madam," said he, gravely examining it; "but I do not think it will wash well; I am afraid it will fray."

   2. To rub.
      • 1884, Richard Jefferies, “Wild Exmoor”, in Red Deer, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC ↗, page 29 ↗:

        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.

      1. (specifically) Of a deer: to rub its antlers against a tree, etc., to remove the velvet or to mark territory.
         • 1575, Jacques du Fouilloux, “Of the Termes of Venery”, in George Gascoigne, transl., The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting. […], London: […] Thomas Purfoot, published 1611, →OCLC ↗, page 244 ↗:

           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.

           A noun use.

         • 1820, Walter Scott, “[Miscellaneous Poems.] Hunting Song”, in The Poetical Works of Walter Scott, Esq. […], volume XII, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Company] for Arch[ibald] Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; and John Murray, →OCLC ↗, page 122 ↗:

           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; […]

         • 1884, Richard Jefferies, “Tracking Deer by Slot”, in Red Deer, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC ↗, page 112 ↗:

           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.

   3. (figuratively) Of a person's mental strength, nerves, temper, etc.: to become exhausted or worn out.

      The hectic day ended in her nerves frayed.

• dentifrice
• affricate
• fricative
• friction

• French: effilocher
• German: ausfransen
• Portuguese: desfiar
• Russian: расплета́ться
• Spanish: deshilacharse

• French: user
• German: aufreiben, zermürben
• Russian: изна́шиваться
• Spanish: desgastar

fray (plural frays)

1. (archaic or obsolete) A consequence of rubbing, unravelling, or wearing away; a fraying; also, a place where fraying has occurred.
   • c. 1613 (date written; published 1630), Thomas Middleton, “A Chaste Maid in Cheapside”, in A[rthur] H[enry] Bullen, editor, The Works of Thomas Middleton […] (The English Dramatists), volume V, London: John C. Nimmo […], published 1885, →OCLC ↗, Act I, scene i, page 7 ↗, lines 34–35:

     [T]here's no woman made without a flaw; / Your purest lawns have frays, and cambrics bracks.

     Modernized from the 1630 text, where the word was spelled frayes.

   • 1648, Robert Herrick, “To the Fever, Not to Trouble Julia”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC ↗, [https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_hesperides-or-the-work_herrick-robert_1648_0/page/(91)/mode/1up page 91]:

     'Tis like a Lawnie-Firmament as yet / Quite diſpoſſeſt of either fray, or fret.

From Late Middle English fraien, an aphetic variant of affraien (whence affray), from Anglo-Norman affraier, afrayer [and other forms], a variant of effreier, esfreier [and other forms], and Old French effreer, esfreer [and other forms] (modern French effrayer), from Vulgar Latin *exfridāre, from Latin ex- + Frankish *friþu (from Proto-Germanic *friþuz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *preyH-).

fray (frays, present participle fraying; simple past and past participle frayed) (archaic or obsolete)

1. (transitive)
   1. (except, poetic) To alarm or frighten (someone or something).

      Synonyms: affray, effray

      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗, stanza 52, page 18 ↗:

        VVhy Dame (quoth he) vvhat hath ye thus diſmayd? / VVhat frayes ye, that vvere vvont to comfort me affrayd?

      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗, stanza 40, page 373 ↗:

        But ſoone as they approcht vvith deadly threat, / The Palmer ouer them his ſtaffe vpheld, / […] Inſtead of fraying, they them ſelues did feare, / And trembled, as them paſſing they beheld: / Such vvondrous povvre did in that ſtaffe appeare, / All monſters to ſubdevv to him, that did it beare.

      • [1611?], Homer, “Book III”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC ↗; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volume I, London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC ↗, page 80 ↗:

        When every least commander’s will, best soldiers had obey’d, / And both the hosts were rang’d for fight, the Trojans would have fray’d / The Greeks with noises; crying out, in coming rudely on / At all parts, like the cranes that fill with harsh confusion / Of brutish clangour all the air; […]

        The spelling has been modernized.

      • 1850, Robert Browning, “Easter-Day. Stanza XIII.”, in Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day. A Poem, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC ↗, page 102 ↗:

        [M]y warnings fray / No one, and no one they convert, / And no one helps me to assert / How hard it is to really be / A Christian, and in vacancy / I pour this story!

   2. Often followed by away, off, or out: to frighten or scare (someone or something) away.

      Synonyms: affray

      • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC ↗; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act V, scene ii ↗:

        VVhat, are the turtles fraid out of their neaſts?

      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Jeremiah 7:33 ↗, column 1:

        And the carkeiſes of this people ſhall be meate for the fowles of the heauen, and for the beaſts of the earth, and none ſhall fray them away.

      • 1626, [Samuel] Purchas, “Relations of the Regions and Religions in Africa. […]”, in Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], 5th part, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC ↗, 6th book, § III (Of Crocodiles, Serpents, and Other Strange Creatures), page 624 ↗:

        It [the basilisk] frayeth avvay other Serpents vvith the hiſſing.

      • 1653, Henry More, “The Usefullnesse of Animalls an Argument of Divine Providence”, in An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC ↗, book I, page 77 ↗:

        Beſides, all the vvit and Philoſophy in the vvorld can never demonſtrate, that the killing and ſlaughtering of a Beaſt is any more then the ſtriking of a Buſh vvhere a birds Neſt is, vvhere you fray avvay the Bird, and then ſeize upon the empty Neſt.

      • 1711 May 29 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, May 18, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 68; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC ↗, page 415 ↗:

        Whoso casteth a stone at the birds frayeth them away; and he that upbraideth his friend, breaketh friendship.

        The spelling has been modernized.

      • a. 1717 (date written), Robert South, “Sermon VII. Romans xii. 18.”, in Five Additional Volumes of Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions. […], volume X, London: […] Charles Bathurst, […], published 1744, →OCLC ↗, page 232 ↗:

        Hovv fares it vvith him in the court of conſcience? […] Can he fray off the vultur from his breaſt, that night and day is gnavving his heart, and vvounding it vvith ghaſtly and amazing reflexions?

      • 1825 June 21, [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume II (The Betrothed), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC ↗, page 187 ↗:

        A murrain on thy voice! it is enough to fray every hawk from the perch.

      • 1829, [Isaac Taylor], “Section I. Enthusiasm, Secular and Religious.”, in Natural History of Enthusiasm, London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC ↗, page 4 ↗:

        [T]he many checks and reverses which belong to the common course of human life fray it away from present scenes, and either send it back in pensive recollections of past pleasures, or forwards in anticipation of a bright futurity.

   3. (by extension)
      1. To assail or attack (someone or something); to drive (someone or something) away by attacking.
      2. To chase (someone or something) away; to disperse.
         • 1635, Fra[ncis] Quarles, “Canto XIV. Psal[m] XIII. III.”, in Emblemes, London: […] G[eorge] M[iller] and sold at at Iohn Marriots shope […], →OCLC ↗, book I, stanza 2, page 57 ↗:

           Svveet Phoſpher bring the day, / Thy light vvill fray / Theſe horrid Miſts; […]

2. (intransitive)
   1. To be afraid or frightened; to fear.
   2. To make an assault or attack; also, to create a disturbance; to brawl, to fight.
      • 1657, Jam. Howel [i.e., James Howell], “Of the Twenty Sixth, or the Last Ward of the City of London, Called the Bridge-ward Without, Containing the Bourough of Southwark”, in Londinopolis; an Historicall Discourse or Perlustration of the City of London, the Imperial Chamber, and Chief Emporium of Great Britain: […], London: […] J[ohn] Streater, for Henry Twiford, George Sawbridge, Thomas Dring, and John Place, […], →OCLC ↗, page 337 ↗:

        Then next is the Clinke, a Goale or Priſon for the Treſpaſſers in thoſe parts, namely, in old time for ſuch as ſhould brabble, fray, or break the peace on the ſaid Bank, or in the Brothel Houſes; […]

From Late Middle English frai, an aphetic variant of affrai, effrai, then:

• from affraien; and
• from Anglo-Norman affrai, affrei [and other forms], a variant of effray, effrei, esfrei, esfroi, Middle French effray, esfroi, and Old French effrei, esfrei, esfroi (modern French effroi), from Old French effreer, esfreer.

  See further at etymology 2.

fray

1. (countable) 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.

   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, published 1597, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene i] ↗:

     Pry[nce]: VVhere be the vile beginners of this fray? / Ben[volio]: Ah Noble Prince I can diſcouer all / The moſt vnlucky mannage of this bravvle. / […] Pry: Speake Benuolio vvho began this fray? / Ben: Tibalt heere ſlaine vvhom Romeos hand did ſlay.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC ↗, page 178 ↗:

     I for my part have been in the fray before novv, and though (through the goodneſs of him that is beſt) I am as you ſee alive: yet I cannot boaſt of my manhood. Glad ſhall I be, if I meet vvith no more ſuch brunts, though I fear vve are not got beyond all danger.

2. (countable, figuratively) A heated argument; a war of words.
3. (uncountable) Conflict, disagreement.
   • a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “Sermon XCIX. Preached at Lincoln’s Inn. The Second Sermon on Matthew xviii. 7.”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., […], volume IV, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1839, →OCLC ↗, page 306 ↗:

     It is the chafing of the lion, and the stirring of the viper, that aggravates the danger; the first blow makes the wrong, but the second makes the fray; and they that will endure no kind of abuse in state or church, are many times more dangerous than that abuse which they oppose.

   • 1676, [Matthew Hale], “Of Humility, Its Opposite Vices, Benefits, & Means to Acquire It”, in Contemplations Moral and Divine. […], London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbury […], and John Leigh […], →OCLC ↗, pages 344–345 ↗:

     [W]hen the conteſt is by the proud Man againſt the humble Man, the ſtrife is quickly at an end: it is a true Proverb, It is the ſecond blovv makes the fray: the humble Man gives vvay to the vvrath and inſolence of the proud Man, and thereby ends the quarrel; for Yielding pacifieth vvrath, ſaith the VViſe Man [Ecclesiastes 10:4], […]

4. (obsolete)
   1. (countable) An assault or attack.

      Synonyms: affray

   2. (countable) A loud noise; a cacophony, a din.
      • 1878, Thomas Tusser, “Huswifely Admonitions”, in Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC ↗; republished as W[illiam] Payne, Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], 1878, →OCLC ↗, stanza 4, page 168 ↗:

        Where window is open, cat maketh a fray, / yet wilde cat with two legs is worse by my fay.

   3. (except, Scotland, uncountable) Fright, terror; (countable) an instance of this.

      Synonyms: affray

      • 1699, William Dampier, “The Country of Achin Described: […]”, in Voyages and Descriptions. Vol. II. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC ↗, part I (His Voyage from Achin in Sumatra, to Tonquin, […]), page 148 ↗:

        Thus that fray vvas over, and vve came aſhore again: recovered of the fright vve had been in.

• affray

• French: bagarre, combat
• German: Schlacht, Schlägerei, Auseinandersetzung, Prügelei, Rauferei, Kampf, Prügelei, Rauferei, Getümmel
• Italian: agone, baruffa, mischia
• Portuguese: refrega, briga
• Russian: дра́ка
• Spanish: combate, riña, batalla

An aphetic variant of defray.

fray (frays, present participle fraying; simple past and past participle frayed)

1. (transitive, obsolete, rare) To bear the expense of (something); to defray.
   • 1631 (first performance), Philip Massinger, The Emperour of the East. A Tragæ-comœdie. […], London: […] Thomas Harper, for Iohn Waterson, published 1632, →OCLC ↗, Act IV, scene iii ↗:

     [T]he charge of my moſt curious, and coſtly ingredients fraide, amounting to ſome ſeaventeene thouſand crovvnes, a trifle in reſpect of health, vvriting your noble name in my Catalogue, I ſhall acknovvledge my ſelfe amply ſatisfi'd.

1. Surname.