affray
English
Etymology
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From Middle English afraien (“to terrify, frighten”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman afrayer (“to terrify, disquiet, disturb”), from Old French effreer, esfreer (“to disturb, remove the peace from”) (compare modern French effrayer), from Vulgar Latin *exfridāre or from es- (“ex-”) + freer (“to secure, secure the peace”), 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”). Compare also afear. More at free, friend.
Pronunciation
Verb
affray (third-person singular simple present affrays, present participle affraying, simple past and past participle affrayed)
- (archaic, transitive) To startle from quiet; to alarm.
- Chaucer
- Smale foules a great heap / That had afrayed me out of my sleep.
- Chaucer
- (archaic, transitive) To frighten; to scare; to frighten away.
- Shakespeare
- That voice doth us affray.
- Shakespeare
Related terms
Noun
affray (countable and uncountable, plural affrays)
- The act of suddenly disturbing anyone; an assault or attack.
- BBC News [1]
- A 22-year-old man was also arrested in connection with the incident for affray towards attending paramedics.
- BBC News [1]
- A tumultuous assault or quarrel.
- 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.
- (obsolete) Terror.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations
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- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms borrowed from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- English terms derived from Frankish
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪ
- English lemmas
- English verbs
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- English transitive verbs
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
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- Requests for quotations/Edmund Spenser