affray

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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)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To startle from quiet; to alarm.
    • Chaucer
      Smale foules a great heap / That had afrayed me out of my sleep.
  2. (archaic, transitive) To frighten; to scare; to frighten away.
    • Shakespeare
      That voice doth us affray.

Noun

affray (countable and uncountable, plural affrays)

  1. 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.
  2. A tumultuous assault or quarrel.
  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.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

Synonyms

Translations

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