FRAYED

frayed

(adjective) worn away or tattered along the edges; “frayed cuffs”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

frayed (comparative more frayed, superlative most frayed)

Unravelled, worn at the end or edge.

Verb

frayed

simple past tense and past participle of fray

Anagrams

• defray, fedary

Source: Wiktionary


FRAY

Fray, n. Etym: [Abbreviated from affray.]

Definition: Affray; broil; contest; combat. Who began this bloody fray Shak.

Fray, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Frayed; p. pr. & vb. n. Fraying.] Etym: [See 1st Fray, and cf. Affray.]

Definition: To frighten; to terrify; to alarm. I. Taylor. What frays ye, that were wont to comfort me affrayed Spenser.

Fray, v. t. Etym: [Cf. OF. fraier. See Defray, v. t.]

Definition: To bear the expense of; to defray. [Obs.] The charge of my most curious and costly ingredients frayed, I shall acknowledge myself amply satisfied. Massinger.

Fray, v. t. Etym: [OF. freier, fraier, froier, to rub. L. fricare; cf. friare to crumble, E. friable; perh. akin to Gr. gh to rub, scratch. Cf. Friction.]

Definition: To rub; to wear off, or wear into shreds, by rubbing; to fret, as cloth; as, a deer is said to fray her head.

Fray, v. i.

1. To rub. We can show the marks he made When 'gainst the oak his antlers frayed. Sir W. Scott.

2. To wear out or into shreads, or to suffer injury by rubbing, as when the threads of the warp or of the woof wear off so that the cross threads are loose; to ravel; as, the cloth frays badly. A suit of frayed magnificience. tennyson.

Fray, n.

Definition: A fret or chafe, as in cloth; a place injured by rubbing.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

27 May 2025

DIRECTIONALITY

(noun) the property of being directional or maintaining a direction; “the directionality of written English is from left to right”


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Coffee Trivia

In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.

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