Crossword clues for affray
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Affray \Af*fray"\, n. [OE. afrai, affrai, OF. esfrei, F. effroi, fr. OF. esfreer. See Affray, v. t.]
The act of suddenly disturbing any one; an assault or attack. [Obs.]
Alarm; terror; fright. [Obs.]
--Spenser.A tumultuous assault or quarrel; a brawl; a fray. ``In the very midst of the affray.''
--Motley.-
(Law) The fighting of two or more persons, in a public place, to the terror of others.
--Blackstone.Note: A fighting in private is not, in a legal sense, an affray.
Syn: Quarrel; brawl; scuffle; encounter; fight; contest; feud; tumult; disturbance.
Affray \Af*fray"\, v. t. [p. p. Affrayed.] [OE. afraien, affraien, OF. effreer, esfreer, F. effrayer, orig. to disquiet, put out of peace, fr. L. ex + OHG. fridu peace (akin to E. free). Cf. Afraid, Fray, Frith inclosure.]
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To startle from quiet; to alarm.
Smale foules a great heap That had afrayed [affrayed] me out of my sleep.
--Chaucer. -
To frighten; to scare; to frighten away.
That voice doth us affray.
--Shak.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1300, "state of alarm produced by a sudden disturbance," from Old French effrei, esfrei "disturbance, fright," from esfreer (v.) "to worry, concern, trouble, disturb," from Vulgar Latin *exfridare, a hybrid word meaning literally "to take out of peace," from Latin ex- "out of" (see ex-) + Frankish *frithu "peace," from Proto-Germanic *frithuz "peace, consideration, forbearance" (cognates: Old Saxon frithu, Old English friðu, Old High German fridu "peace, truce"), from suffixed form of PIE root *pri- "to be friendly, love" (see free (adj.)). Meaning "breach of the peace, riotous fight in public" is from late 15c. Related verb afrey (early 14c.) survives almost exclusively in its past participle, afraid (q.v.).
Wiktionary
n. 1 The act of suddenly disturbing any one; an assault or attack. 2 A tumultuous assault or quarrel. 3 The fighting of two or more persons, in a public place, to the terror of others. vb. 1 To startle from quiet; to alarm. 2 To frighten; to scare; to frighten away.
WordNet
n. noisy quarrel [syn: altercation, fracas]
a noisy fight [syn: disturbance, fray, ruffle]
Wikipedia
In many legal jurisdictions related to English common law, affray is a public order offence consisting of the fighting of one or more persons in a public place to the terror (in ) of ordinary people. Depending on their actions, and the laws of the prevailing jurisdiction, those engaged in an affray may also render themselves liable to prosecution for assault, unlawful assembly, or riot; if so, it is for one of these offences that they are usually charged.
Usage examples of "affray".
The lieutenant retained his place in the stern sheets, which he had not left during the affray or the conference.
Yet you, a wretched sleeper, with only a thin plank of wood between you and the affray, hear nothing, absolutely nothing.
An affray was actually in progress between the Italian Ripaldi and the incriminated man Quadling, but the witness arrived as the last fatal blow was struck by the latter.
Carlin and his men had so effectively sustained the detective that the affray had reached a conclusion before they could interfere.
THIS mobsman - one of the few who had escaped uninjured from the affray at the Cathcart estate - had forgotten all else in his mad desire to square accounts with The Shadow.
Well did Traymer know that the affray in the apartment house must have involved Beef Norbin and his mob.
The Shadow had not learned that the lone instigator of the wild affray had escaped.
New York news item: GANGSTERS WAR IN NEW YORK APARTMENT The account referred to the affray of the previous night.
At this stage of the affray Duke Philip, at the request of the Duke of Orleans, flung his truncheon into the lists and ended the fight, in time to save the Sicilian knight.
Before a knight could indulge in mortal affray he was obliged to obtain the consent of his sovereign, provided that peace ruled between his country and that of his antagonist, as was the case between Spain and Burgundy.
Smoothly groomed, her sable hair imperiously pinned since her demeaning affray by the wall, Lirenda advanced in a swish of damp silk.
For Elaira, withdrawn into worried silence concerning the fate of two fugitives abroad in the Skyshiel wilderness, the affray kept its bittersweet edge of snatched victory.
Then an affray at Riverton that made a mockery of my oath as a crown prince.
After the affray Bushart would certainly have been slain had he remained, so he induced the captain of the HUNTER to give him a passage to the first land reached.
Bothwell had taken three wounds in a Border affray some weeks before, and Mary, hearing of this and that he lay in grievous case at Hermitage, had ridden thither in her fond solicitude - a distance of thirty miles - and back again in the same day, thus contracting a chill which had brought her to the very gates of death.