▪ I. fray, n.1
(freɪ)
Also 6 frai(e, 7 frey.
[aphetic f. affray, effray. Cf. fray v.1]
1. A feeling of fear; alarm, fright, terror. Also in phrase to take a or the fray. Cf. affray n. 2. Obs. exc. Sc.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 4775 (Trin.) Whenne iacob was moost in fray God him coumfortide. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xxix. (Tollem. MS.), It [the stone Crisolitus]..helpeþ nyȝte frayes and dredes. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 243 That theire hertes scholde not be in fray or feere to beholde bloode. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. xii. 51 Al suddanly the Latynis tuke ane fray..and fled away. 1559–66 Hist. Estate Scot. in Wodr. Soc. Misc. (1844) 61 The Friers takeing the fray—begane to dispose the best of their goods. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Sonn. viii, Nor shepherd hastes (when frays of wolves arise) So fast to fold. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. i. 148 Thus that Fray was over, and we came ashore again: recovered of the fright we had been in. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 157 Whan the hail Hellespont reboundit And ky on Ida's taps confoundit Ran down the hills for fray. |
† 2. An assault, attack. Cf. affray n. 1. Obs.
| c 1430 Hymns Virg. 14 Thou woldist bleede for mannis nede, And suffre manye a feerdful fray. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 95 Hamfare, þat is, a fray made in an howse. c 1575 Durham Depos. (Surtees) 300 After that Crampton had maid a fraye of the said Martyn, one Robert Johnson cauld for the constable, to carry them to the stoks. |
3. A disturbance, esp. one caused by fighting; a noisy quarrel, a brawl; a fight, skirmish, conflict.
| [1382 Durh. Halm. Rolls (Surtees) 171 De quodam fray in campo de Walleshond per homines de Tynnemouth ad effusionem sanguinis.] c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 105 And all þe ladyes..Of þis grete fraye þe wheche þye sie and herden, weren Sore agast. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xvi. 16 There began a great fraye bitwene some of the gromes and pages of the strangers, and of the archers of Inglande. 1609 Rowlands Knaue of Clubbes 3 Fleete-street fraies, when Prentices With Clubs did knocke thee downe. 1698 Fryer E. India & P. 46 The Vice-Admiral..left not off till Night parted the Fray. 1799 Nelson 12 Sept. in Nicolas Disp. IV. 11 The Turks are returned to Constantinople having had a fray with the Sicilians. 1839 Thirlwall Greece VI. 157 He immediately charged into the thickest of the fray. 1878 Bayne Purit. Rev. iv. 126 They were always eager for the fray. |
| Proverb. a 1631 Donne Serm. xl. (Alford) 306 The first blow makes the Wrong, but the second makes the Fray. 1676 Hale Contempl. i. 242 It is a true Proverb, It is the second blow makes the fray. |
b. transf. (esp. ‘a war of words’).
| 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. iii. ii. i. (1852) 356 That fray between that Bishop, and Laud, the Bishop of London. 1851 Bright Sp. Eccles. Titles Bill 12 May, The noble Lord..commenced the fray by his celebrated letter. 1884 Rita Vivienne ii. iv, I'll wait and see you adorned for the fray. |
† c. A din, noise, stir. Obs.
| ? a 1550 Dunbar's Poems (S.T.S.) Freiris of Berwik 197 Ȝone is Symone that makis all this fray. 1573 Tusser Husb. lxxvii. (1878) 168 Where window is open, cat maketh a fray. 1632 Lithgow Trav. x. 468 The Toune was in Armes, the Bells ringing..people shouting, and Drummes beating..I asked him what the fray was? |
† 4. to stand at fray: to ‘show fight’. Obs.
| 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Badger-hunting, If the Hounds..undertake the Chase before he Earths, he will then stand at fray, like a Bear, and make most incomparable Sport. |
5. Comb., as fray-maker, fray-making.
| 1532 Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI, c. 4 §3 They may be known as *Fray-makers and Fighters. 1643 Prynne Sov. Power Parl. iv. 28 Constables may by the Law..imprison peace⁓breakers, fray-makers, riotors, and others. 1884 A. Griffiths Chron. Newgate I. vi. 233 Any church brawler..might be branded with the letter F, as a fraymaker and fighter. |
| a 1553 Udall Royster D. i. i. (Arb.) 12 All the day long is he facing and craking Of his great actes in fighting and *fraymaking. |
b. Special comb., as † fray-bell, an alarm-bell formerly sounded on the occasion of a tumult. Also (perh. f. the verb-stem); † fray-boggard, a scarecrow; fray-bug, an object of fear; a bogy, spectre (whence fray-bug vb. trans., to scare as with a fray-bug; to terrify).
| 1864 J. Raine Priory of Hexham I. p. cxxiv, The common-bell beginning to peal; and then the great *fray⁓bell of the monastery boomed in answer. |
| 1535 Coverdale Baruch vi. 69 Like as a *frayboggarde in a garden off Cucumbers kepeth nothinge, euen so are their goddes of wod, of syluer & golde. |
| 1555 Saunders in Foxe A. & M. (1563) 1043/2 Howe lothe is this loyteryng sluggard to passe foorth in Goddes pathe. It fantasyeth forsooth much feare of *fray bugges. 1592 Stubbes Motive Good Wks. 123 The broching of this fraibugge or scar-crow [Purgatory]. 1671 S. Clarke Mirr. Saints & Sinn. (ed. 4) I. 485 Event proveth that these are no Fray-Bugs. |
| 1546 Bale Eng. Votaries ii. Conclusion (1550) 118 They *fraybugged them with the thunderboltes of their excommunycacyons. |
▪ II. fray, n.2
[f. fray v.2]
The result of fraying; a frayed place.
| 1630 Middleton Chaste Maid i. i, Your purest Lawnes haue Frayes, and Cambrickes Brackes. 1648 Herrick Hesper. 91 'Tis like a Lawnie-Firmament as yet Quite dispossest of either fray or fret. |
▪ III. fray, v.1
(freɪ)
[aphetic f. affray, effray v.]
1. trans. To affect with fear, make afraid, frighten. Cf. affray v. 2. Obs. exc. poet.
| a 1300, 1330 [see frayed ppl. a.]. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1553 For al hit frayes my flesche þe fyngres so grymme. 14.. Sir Beues 2396 (MS. M.) The dragon kest vp a yelle, That it wolde haue frayed the deuyl of hel. 1531 Tindale Exp. 1 John (1537) 14 That..we shulde exalte our selues ouer you..frayenge you with the bugge of excommunicacyon. 1604 Bp. W. Barlow Confer. Hampton Crt. in Phenix (1721) I. 154 A Puritan is a Protestant fray'd out of his Wits. 1742 Shenstone Schoolmistress 149 And other some with baleful sprig she 'frays. 1832 J. Bree St. Herbert's Isle 98 He frayed the monsters with his bugle's sound. 1850 Browning Christmas Eve & Easter Day, My warnings fray No one, and no one they convert. |
| absol. 1496 Bk. St. Albans, Fishing C j, And when she hath plumyd ynough: go to her softly for frayenge. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 40 Instead of fraying they themselves did feare. |
2. To frighten or scare away. Also to fray away, fray off, or fray out. Cf. affray v. 4. Obs. exc. arch.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 55 God hath ordeyned..a specyall remedy, wherwith we may fray them away. 1533 Tindale Supper of Lord cv b, Why fraye ye the commen people from the lytteral sense with thys bugge? 1586 Marlowe 1st Pt. Tamburl. v. ii, Are the turtles frayed out of their nests? 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage vi. i. 560 It [the Basilisk]..frayeth away other serpents with the hissing. a 1716 South Serm. (1744) X. 232 Can he fray off the vultur from his breast? 1825 Scott Betrothed xxiii, It is enough to fray every hawk from the perch. 1867 Manning Eng. & Christendom 154 We should have to answer to the Good Shepherd, if so much as one of His sheep were frayed away from the fold by harsh voices. |
| absol. 1542 Becon David's Harp Wks. 1564 I. 147 Exhort unto virtue. Fray away from vice. |
b. simply. To drive away, disperse.
| 1635 Quarles Embl. i. xiv. (1718) 57 Thy light will fray These horrid mists. 1655 H. Vaughan Silex Scint. ii. Death (1858) 205 Thy shades..Which his first looks will quickly fray. |
† 3. intr. To be afraid or frightened; to fear. Obs.
| a 1529 Skelton Image Hypocr. 509 Yow fray not of his rod. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 606 Thai had no caus to dreid Nor ȝit to fray. 1638 R. Baillie Lett. (1775) I. 80 This and the convoy of it make us tremble for fear of division..Thir thingis make us fray. |
† 4. trans. To assault, attack, or make an attack upon; to attack and drive off; rarely to make a raid on (a place). Obs.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 5237 The grekys..segh the kyng..With fele folke vppon fote þat hom fray wold. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 237 Thus the forest they fray, Hertus bade at abey. c 1575 Durham Depos. (Surtees) 286 Neither this examinate nor his brother..ever did lay in wayt nor frayd off the said Sir Richard Mylner. |
5. intr. To make a disturbance; to quarrel or fight. Also, to make an attack upon. to fray it out: to settle by fighting. Obs. exc. arch.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 147 Why shuld we fray? 1465 Paston Lett. No. 512 II. 205 My Lord of Suffolks men..fray uppon us, this dayly. 1494 Fabyan Chron. iv. lxxi. (1811) 50 Conan Meridok with a certayne of knyghtes of his affynyte, was purposed to haue frayed with the sayd Maximus, and to haue distressed hym. 1566 Drant Horace's Sat. iii. B v b, For foode and harboure gan they fray..with clubbes. 1570 Song in Wit & Sci. etc. (Shaks. Soc.) 90 The sonne is up with hys bryght beames, As thoughe he woolde with the now fraye, And bete the up out of thy dreames. 1657 Howell Londinop. 337 A gaol..for such as should brabble, fray, or break the peace. 1889 Univ. Rev. Sept. 38 Sooner than fray it out thou wouldst retire. |
Hence ˈfraying vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| c 1450 Merlin 339 Arthur was also fallen to grounde with the frayinge that thei hurteled to-geder. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John x. 1 They doe their endeuour to maynteyn their tyrannie with disceytes, frayinges, wiles [etc.]. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 194 Of fraying of babes. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 394 But only avoideth this clause..as a fraying ghost. |
▪ IV. fray, v.2
(freɪ)
[ad. F. frayer:—OF. freiier to rub:—L. fricāre: see friction.]
I. To rub; to come into collision.
1. intr. Of deer: (see quot. 1756). Also trans. in to fray their heads.
| 1576 Turberv. Venerie 69 The old harts do fray their heads upon the yong trees. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 23 Chiefe stags vpbearing croches high from the antlier hauted On trees stronglye fraying. 1756 Whalley Notes on B. Jonson's Wks. V. 103 A deer is said to fray her head when she rubs it against a tree to renew it. 1884 Jefferies Red Deer vii. 112 Towards the end of July—they are then fraying, rubbing the velvet off their new horns against the trees. |
2. trans. To rub away, wear through by rubbing; to ravel out the edge or end of (something woven or twisted); occasionally, to chafe or irritate by friction.
| 1710 Steele Tatler No. 245 ¶2 Four striped Muslin Night-Rails very little frayed. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Clear Starching, Pull out your pinner, holding it by the Edging, with dry and clean hands lest you fray it. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xvii, The very bell-rope in the porch was frayed into a fringe. 1873 A. Dobson Vignettes in Rhyme, Sundial xii, The frequent sword-hilt had so frayed his glove. 1884 J. F. Goodhart Dis. Childr. iv. (1891) 77 The polypus [should be] hooked down, and its pedicle frayed through the nail [of the finger]. |
| fig. 1861 Dickens Gt. Expect. II. 1 The stage coach.. got into the ravel of traffic frayed out about the Cross Keys. |
b. intr. Of material: To become frayed, to ravel out. Also with out.
| 1721 Bailey s.v., To fray, to fret as Cloth does by Rubbing. 1798 Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1833) I. iii. 14, I do not think it will wash well; I am afraid it will fray. |
c. To rub against.
| 1884 Jefferies Red Deer ii. 29 Dry dark heather continually fraying against my knees. |
† 3. trans. To bruise. Also, to deflower. Obs.
| c 1460 Play Sacram. 455 And w{supt} ow{supr} strokys we shalle fray hym as he was on y⊇ rode. 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. ix. (1593) 220 Whom being then no maid (For why the God of Delos and of Delphos had her fraid). |
† 4. intr. To clash, come into collision. Obs.
| c 1450 Merlin 594 Ther myght a man haue sein..many a shafte and shelde frayen to-geder. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 424/2 Whan he sawe..how therthe onelye by frayeng of his staffe was dyched aboute. |
II. 5. [A recent adoption from Fr.] trans. To clear, cut through, force (a path, way).
| 1849 E. E. Napier Excurs. S. Africa II. 81 The narrow thorny paths, frayed by the elephant and the rhinoceros. 1869 Baring-Gould Origin Relig. Belief (1878) I. vii. 135 Man had to fray his road through a wilderness of fable before he could reach the truth. |
Hence ˈfraying vbl. n.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 653 Thai..Herd bath stering, and ek speking, And [alswa fraying] of armyng. |
▪ V. † fray, v.3 Obs. rare.
[short f. defray v.]
trans. To defray; also absol.
| 1450 Plumpton Corr. 39 Nothing will they pay, without your said tenants will fray with them. 1631 Massinger Emperor East iv. iv, The charge of my most curious and costly ingredients frayed..I shall acknowledge myself amply satisfied. |
▪ VI. † fray, v.4 Obs.
trans. ? To fry. Also absol.
| c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. ii. 89 Caste hem and the oynons into þat potte with the drawen pesen, and late hem boile togidre..And then take faire oile and fray. 1558–68 Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. 28 a, Havyng frayed and consumed it in hote water, give it to the woman to drinke. |
Hence † frayed ppl. a.
| c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. ii. 93 Take figges..and cast a litull fraied oyle there-to. |
▪ VII. fray
obs. f. and Sc. var. of fra, fro.