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fray

Pronunciation: /fɹeɪ/

The English word “fray” has 20 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. To force or make (a path, way, etc.) through.
  4. To bruise (someone or something); also, to take the virginity of (someone, usually a female person); to deflower.
  5. To become unravelled or worn; to unravel.
  6. To rub.
  7. Of a deer: to rub its antlers against a tree, etc., to remove the velvet or to mark territory.
  8. Of a person's mental strength, nerves, temper, etc.: to become exhausted or worn out.
  9. To alarm or frighten (someone or something).
  10. Often followed by away, off, or out: to frighten or scare (someone or something) away.
  11. To assail or attack (someone or something); to drive (someone or something) away by attacking.
  12. To chase (someone or something) away; to disperse.
  13. To be afraid or frightened; to fear.
  14. To make an assault or attack; also, to create a disturbance; to brawl, to fight.

noun

  1. A consequence of rubbing, unravelling, or wearing away; a fraying; also, a place where fraying has occurred.
  2. A noisy commotion, especially resulting from fighting; a brawl, a fight; also, a loud quarrel.
  3. A heated argument; a war of words.
  4. Conflict, disagreement.
  5. An assault or attack.
  6. A loud noise; a cacophony, a din.

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.