Obs. Also 3–4 conrai, 4 curreye, korray. [a. OF. conrei (also conreid, -roi, -roy, corroi, courroy) orderly preparation, outfit, equipage, company of troops, esp. of horse, ordinance, provision, supplies, food = Pr. conre, conrei equipage, provision, food, Sp. correo, Pg. correia, provision for letters, courier, post, It. corredo equipage, outfit, furniture, med.L. conrēdum equipage, outfit, conrēdium provision for maintenance, etc.; all going back to an early Rom. *conrēdo, f. con- + *rēdo (OF. rei, rai, roi) preparation, making ready, order: see ARRAY and CORRODY. The primary sense was ‘making ready, equipment, equipage’: of the great variety of senses which thence arose in OF., only fragments have survived in mod.F., Eng., and the other langs.]
1. Equipment, outfit.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11513 (Cott.). Fair þai did þair conrai dight.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 3345. Wel armed in ilke a conreye [v.r. armed were in all conrey].
2. A company equipped for fight; a detachment, armament, battalion.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 5118. No man ne couthe areden The nombre … Ne of the kynges curreye, That lasteth twenty mylen weye.
1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 304. Þer formast conrey, þer bakkis togidere sette. Ibid. (c. 1330), Chron. Wace (Rolls), 4693. Alle þat were of his conrey Hyed þem faste, & wente þer wey. Ibid., 13375. Eyghte batailles of gode array … Sire Agusel hadde þe first bataille … A-child of Denmark þe þrydde conreye [v.r. correie].
