A frayed-out end. Southern. To FRAZZLE. To fray out. East Anglia, 1825. N.E.D.
1882. All these causes combined, dwindled the Army of Northern Virginia away to the mere frazzle, as General Gordon expressed it, and Lee fought the battle at Sharpsburg with skeleton regiments, brigades and divisions.—‘Southern Hist. Soc. Papers,’ x. 504 (Richmond, Va.).
1884. And when the end came, when Gordon had “fought his corps to a frazzle.”—Id., xiv. 92.
1893. One’s garments get frazzled in the grass; one’s mind and body … sometimes become frazzled, torn to pieces, good for nothing.—American Missionary, Dec. (N.E.D.)
1894. Two years ago his nerves were worn to a frazzle over an attempt made to levy a tax.—Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, Jan. 2. (N.E.D.)
1910. Physically depressed as they all were, the edge of their fighting spirit was not dulled. Indeed, it seemed to have increased as their nerves became more “frazzled.”—N.Y. Evening Post, March 21.
