fraying

Verb

fray (third-person singular simple present frays, present participle fraying, simple past and past participle frayed)

1. (also, figuratively, transitive) 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.
   • S. Paul alſo defineth the law to be the knowlege of ſyn, yͭ is, which accuſeth, frayeth the cõſcience, & maketh ſynnes knowen.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...
   1. (also, figuratively, specifically, transitive) 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.
2. (transitive) To force or make (a path, way, etc.) through.
3. (obsolete, transitive) To bruise (someone or something); also, to take the virginity of (someone, usually a female person); to deflower.
   • [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.1567, Ovid, “The Ninth Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, folio 115, verso
4. (intransitive) To become unravelled or worn; to unravel.

   Synonyms:

   frazzle

5. (intransitive) To rub.
   • 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.1884, Richard Jefferies, “Wild Exmoor”, in Red Deer, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 29

   Synonyms:

   frazzle

See all 23 meanings of fray