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1538, Erasmus Sarcerius, “Of the Lawe of God”, in Richard Taverner, transl., Cõmon Places of Scripture Ordrely and after a Cõpendious Forme of Teachyng, Set Forth with No Litle Labour,, London: John Byddell,, →OCLC, folio lxv, recto:
S. Paul alſo defineth the law to be the knowlege of ſyn, yͭ is, which accuſeth, frayeth the cõſcience, & maketh ſynnes knowen.
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; […]
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.
[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.
"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."
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.
(specifically) Of a deer: to rub its antlers against a tree, etc., to remove the velvet or to mark territory.
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.
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; […]
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.
[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, “ Amatory Odes. Ode CXLI. 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 Hunt,, →OCLC; republished as Henry G. Clarke, editor, Hesperides, or Works both Human and Divine, volume I, London: H. G. Clarke and Co.,, 1844, →OCLC, page 98:
'Tis like a lawny firmament, as yet / Quite dispossess'd of either fray or fret.
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.
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; […]
[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!
Often followed byaway,off, orout: to frighten or scare (someone or something) away.
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 fraythem 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.
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?
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.
(by extension)
To assail or attack (someone or something); to drive (someone or something) away by attacking.
1583, Bartimeus Andreas , “Canticles. 6.”, in Certaine Verie Worthie, Godly and Profitable Sermons, upon the Fifth Chapiter of the Songs of Solomon:, London: Robert Waldegraue, for Thomas Man, →OCLC, page 35:
And this is it, that frayeth men from Chriſt, becauſe they are loath to vunder go his burthen and yoke, to caſt of the world, & leuing thẽſeluen behind thẽ to follow Chriſt.
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 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 Englishfrai(“an assault, attack; a brawl, fight; disturbance, uproar; fine for assault or breach of the peace”), an aphetic variant of affrai, effrai(“an assault, attack; a brawl, fight; disturbance, uproar; public disturbance, riot; dismay; fear; something frightening”), then:
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.
2022 October 30, Fiona Harvey, quoting Carlos Fuller, “Global anger at Sunak’s Cop27 snub that raises fears over UK’s climate crisis stance”, in The Guardian:
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.
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 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], […]
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.
[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.