[f. FRAY v.2 + -ED1.] Rubbed, worn by rubbing, ravelled out. Also with out.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, V. iii.
| The ivy twigs were torn and fray’d, | |
| As if some climber’s steps to aid. |
1824. Landor, Johnson & Tooke, Wks. 1846, I. 155/1. The leather from the stiff old jerkin will look queerly in its patches on the frayed satin.
1859. Tennyson, Enid, 296.
| His dress a suit of fray’d magnificence, | |
| Once fit for feasts of ceremony. |
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. xiv. The wind sweeps jeeringly over Father, whips him with the frayed ends of his dress and his jagged hair, tries to turn him where he lies stark on his back, and force his face towards the rising sun, that he may be shamed the more.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 107. Not good it is to harp on the frayed string.
1884. Western Daily Press, 25 April, 7/5. The front of the bonnet is composed of frayed silk.
1889. John Bull, 2 March, 149/3. The satin train had a thick ruche of frayed-out silk bordering it all round.
fig. 1896. Daily News, 11 June, 3/1. This novelty is getting just a trifle frayed at the edges.
Hence Frayedness, frayed condition.
1893. Cassell’s Fam. Mag., June, 500/2. He hands over [the rope] to us in all its frayedness.
