affray

English

Alternative forms

• afray

Etymology

From Middle English affraien (“to terrify, frighten”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman afrayer (“to terrify, disquiet, disturb”) and Old French effreer, esfreer (“to disturb, remove the peace from”) (compare modern French effrayer), from Vulgar Latin *exfridāre.

The second part of this is in turn from Frankish *friþu (“security, peace”), from Proto-Germanic *friþuz (“peace”), from *frijōną (“to free; to love”), from Proto-Indo-European *prāy-, *prēy- (“to like, love”). Cognate with Old High German fridu (“peace”), Old English friþ (“peace, frith”), Old English frēod (“peace, friendship”), German Friede (“peace”). More at free, friend.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈfɹeɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -eɪ

Verb

affray (third-person singular simple present affrays, present participle affraying, simple past and past participle affrayed)

1. (archaic, transitive) To startle from quiet; to alarm.
2. (archaic, transitive) To frighten; to scare; to frighten away.
   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

     That voice doth us affray.

Derived terms

• affrayer

Related terms

• afraid

Noun

affray (countable and uncountable, plural affrays)

1. The act of suddenly disturbing anyone; an assault or attack.
   • 2015, 8 November, "Rugby league journalist Gary Carter critically ill after Bethnal Green attack", BBC News [1]

     A 22-year-old man was also arrested in connection with the incident for affray towards attending paramedics.

2. A tumultuous assault or quarrel.
   • 1847, editorial staff, “Battle With the Hasty Pudding”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 10, page 74:

     The patient, who had a full view of the skirmish, was so tickled at the affray, that he burst into a laughter, which broke the quinsey, and cured him.

3. The fighting of two or more persons, in a public place, to the terror of others.

   The affray in the busy marketplace caused great terror and disorder.

4. (obsolete) Terror.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     full of ghastly fright and cold affray

Synonyms

• fray, brawl
• alarm, terror, fright

Related terms

• fray

Translations

a sudden assault or quarrel

• Bulgarian: сбиване (bg) n (sbivane)
• Catalan: brega (ca) f
• Finnish: kahakka (fi), rähinä (fi), rähäkkä
• Italian: rissa (it) f
• Māori: kekeritanga
• Polish: burda (pl) f, awantura (pl) f
• Portuguese: briga (pt) f, rixa (pt) f, desordem (pt) f, tumulto (pt) m, motim (pt) m
• Tamil: தகராறு (ta) (takarāṟu), ரகளை (ta) (rakaḷai), கலாட்டா (ta) (kalāṭṭā)