Meaning of Fray | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A surname.
2. A consequence of rubbing, unravelling, or wearing away; a fraying; also, a place where fraying has occurred.
   archaic, intransitive, obsolete
3. A noisy commotion, especially resulting from fighting; a brawl, a fight; also, a loud quarrel.
   archaic, countable, obsolete
4. A heated argument; a war of words.
   archaic, countable, figuratively, obsolete
5. Conflict, disagreement.
   archaic, obsolete, uncountable
6. An assault or attack.
   archaic, countable, obsolete
7. A loud noise; a cacophony, a din.
   archaic, countable, obsolete
8. Fright, terror; (countable) an instance of this.
   archaic, obsolete, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“The laces frayed at the cut end.”

“"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."”

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

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

“Though they did not know the reason for the dispute, they did not hesitate to leap into the fray.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Wigan, unbeaten in five games at the DW Stadium, looked well in control but the catalyst for Arsenal's improvement finally came when [Abou] Diaby left the field with a calf injury and Jack Wilshere came into the fray, bringing some much needed determination and urgency to lacklustre Arsenal.”

“Carlos Fuller, Belize’s ambassador to the UN, said: “I can understand why the king was asked not to attend – keeping him out of the fray. However, as the principal UK policymaker and the Cop26 president, the PM should have led the summit.”

“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.”

“[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], […]”

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

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

CEFR level