AFFRAY • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Affray

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noun

Affray n.

1.

The act of suddenly disturbing any one; an assault or attack. (Obs.)

2.

Alarm; terror; fright. (Obs.)

3.

A tumultuous assault or quarrel; a brawl; a fray. "In the very midst of the affray."

4.

(Law) The fighting of two or more persons, in a public place, to the terror of others. Note: A fighting in private is not, in a legal sense, an affray.

Synonyms: Quarrel; brawl; scuffle; encounter; fight; contest; feud; tumult; disturbance.

verb

Affray v. t. (past part. affrayed) (Archaic)

1.

To startle from quiet; to alarm. "Smale foules a great heap That had afrayed (affrayed) me out of my sleep."

2.

To frighten; to scare; to frighten away. "That voice doth us affray."

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Etymology of 'Affray'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Affray" Quotes from Famous Books

... To hew the living rock profound, The floor to pave, the arch to round, There never toiled a mortal arm - It all was wrought by word and charm; And I have heard my grandsire say, That the wild clamour and affray Of those dread artisans of hell, Who laboured under Hugo's spell, Sounded as loud as ocean's war Among the ...

— Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field • Walter Scott

... or else taken him into chancery; but I must confess to feeling flurried and rattled from the blow I had had, as well as from the suddenness of the whole affair. However, I was cooling down, and I daresay should in time have done something rational, when the affray came to ...

— The Stark Munro Letters • J. Stark Munro

... suggested by experience of University life in our own day, that the disturbances were confined, in the main, to the wilder spirits, though it may well be that occasionally peaceable persons were sucked into the vortex by the accident of their being abroad at the time, and on the scene of the affray, where their pacific character would receive scant consideration from the angry combatants. Esprit de corps also was a powerful incentive to action, and one from which even Masters were not exempt. To this must be added that the course ...

— The Customs of Old England • F. J. Snell

... turning round to face the successive bulls, he had gradually wound himself up close to the stump, and had no room to back so as to receive the attack. The most interesting incident in the whole affray was to watch the elephant find out, by swinging his tethered leg, first in one direction and then in another, how to free himself. This he did, first by swinging his leg round and round over the stump, then by walking slowly round and round, always facing ...

— Spanish Life in Town and Country • L. Higgin and Eugene E. Street

... normal build and outlook on life. Mrs. Bowse, his hard-worked landlady, began by being calmed down by his mere bearing when he came to apply for his room and board. She had a touch of grippe, and had just emerged from a heated affray with a dirty cook, and was inclined to battle when he presented himself. In a few minutes she was inclined to battle no longer. She let him have the room. Cantankerous restrictions ...

— T. Tembarom • Frances Hodgson Burnett

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