different between fray vs row

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: fr?, IPA^(key): /f?e?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Etymology 1

From Middle English fraien, borrowed from Old French frayer, from Latin fric?re, present active infinitive of fric?.

Verb

fray (third-person singular simple present frays, present participle fraying, simple past and past participle frayed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To (cause to) unravel; used particularly for the edge of something made of cloth, or the end of a rope.

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To cause exhaustion, wear out (a person's mental strength).

   (Metaphorical use; nerves are visualised as strings)

3. (transitive, archaic) frighten; alarm

   • And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.

   • 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book II, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 63:

     "Besides, all the wit and Philosophy in the world can never demonstrate, that the killing and slaughtering of a Beast is anymore then the striking of a Bush where a Bird's Nest is, where you fray away the Bird, and then seize upon the empty Nest."

   • 1830, Isaac Taylor, The Natural History of Enthusiasm

     the many checks and reverses which belong to the common course of human life , usually fray it away from present scenes

4. (transitive) To bear the expense of; to defray.
   • 1631, Philip Massinger, The Emperor of the East

     The charge of my most curious and costly ingredients frayed, I shall acknowledge myself amply satisfied.

5. (intransitive) To rub.
   • 1808, Walter Scott, Hunting Song

Related terms

• friction
• fricative
• affricate
• dentifrice

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English frai, aphetic variant of affray.

Noun

fray (plural frays)

1. A fight or argument
2. (archaic) Fright.

Related terms

• affray

Translations

Spanish

Etymology

Apocope of fraile (“friar”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f?ai/, [?f?ai?]

Noun

fray m (plural frayes)

1. friar

Abbreviations

• fr.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English rewe, rowe, rawe, from Old English r?w, r?w, probably from Proto-Germanic *raiw?, *raigw?, *raih- (“row, streak, line”), from Proto-Indo-European *reyk- (“to carve, scratch, etch”). Cognate with dialectal Norwegian rå (“boundary line”), Middle Dutch r?e, Dutch rij (“row, line”), Old High German r?ga (“line”), rihan (“to string”), Middle High German rige (“line, row, ditch”), r?he (“row, line, corridor”), German Reihe (“row”), Middle Low German r?ge, r?ge, Old Norse rega (“string”), Middle Dutch r?ghe, Dutch rijg, rijge, German Riege (“sports team”).

Alternative forms

• rew (dialectal)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: r?, IPA^(key): /????/
• (US) enPR: r?, IPA^(key): /??o?/
• Homophones: rho, roe
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

row (plural rows)

1. A line of objects, often regularly spaced, such as seats in a theatre, vegetable plants in a garden etc.
2. A horizontal line of entries in a table, etc., going from left to right, as opposed to a column going from top to bottom.

   Antonym: column

Synonyms

• (line of objects): line, sequence, series, succession, tier (of seats)
• (in a table): line

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English rowen (“to row”), from Old English r?wan (“to row”), from Proto-Germanic *r?an? (“to row”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?reh?- (“to row”). Compare West Frisian roeie, Dutch roeien, Danish ro. More at rudder.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: r?, IPA^(key): /???/
• (US) enPR: r?, IPA^(key): /?o?/
• Homophones: rho, roe
• Rhymes: -??

Verb

row (third-person singular simple present rows, present participle rowing, simple past and past participle rowed)

1. (transitive or intransitive, nautical) To propel (a boat or other craft) over water using oars.

   Synonym: paddle

2. (transitive) To transport in a boat propelled with oars.

3. (intransitive) To be moved by oars.

   The boat rows easily.

Derived terms

• get in the boat and row
• rowboat (see also rowing boat)

Translations

Noun

row (plural rows)

1. An act or instance of rowing.

2. (weightlifting) An exercise performed with a pulling motion of the arms towards the back.

Translations

Etymology 3

Unclear; some suggest it is a back-formation from rouse, verb.

Pronunciation

• enPR: rou, IPA^(key): /?a?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Noun

row (plural rows)

1. A noisy argument.

   Synonyms: argument, disturbance, fight, fracas, quarrel, shouting match, slanging match

2. A continual loud noise.

   Synonyms: din, racket

Translations

Verb

row (third-person singular simple present rows, present participle rowing, simple past and past participle rowed)

1. (intransitive) to argue noisily

   Synonyms: argue, fight

Translations

Anagrams

• Wor., wor

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *rov?. Cognate with Upper Sorbian row, Polish rów (“ditch”), Czech rov, Russian ??? (rov, “ditch”), Old Church Slavonic ???? (rov?, “ditch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /r?w/, [row]

Noun

row m (diminutive rowk)

1. grave

Declension

Further reading

• row in Ernst Muka/Mucke (St. Petersburg and Prague 1911–28): S?ownik dolnoserbskeje r?cy a jeje nar?cow / Wörterbuch der nieder-wendischen Sprache und ihrer Dialekte. Reprinted 2008, Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag
• row in Manfred Starosta (1999): Dolnoserbsko-nimski s?ownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch. Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag.

Manx

Etymology

From an old perfective particle ro- + va.

Verb

row

1. was, were (dependent form)

Usage notes

Part of the substantive verb bee. This is the dependent form of the past tense va used after negative and interrogative particles:

1. • Cha row aggle erbee er.
     • He was not in the least afraid.
   • Dooyrt eh dy row eh mac y ree.
     • He claimed that he was the son of the king.

Old English

Alternative forms

• r?

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *r?u, from Proto-Germanic *r?w?. Cognate with Old Norse ró (“rest”) and German Ruhe (“quietness, rest, repose”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ro?w/

Noun

r?w f

1. quiet, rest, calm

Declension

Descendants

• Middle English: ro, rou, rowe, roo
  • English: roo
  • Scots: ro, ruve

References

• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) , “r?w”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Scots

Noun

row (plural rows)

1. roll

Derived terms

• row-cloth: a folding cloak of warm cloth

Upper Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *rov?.

Noun

row m

1. grave

Vilamovian

Pronunciation

Noun

r?w f (plural rowa)

1. rook (bird)
2. raven

Yola

Noun

row

1. Alternative form of reoue