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  1. affray love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A noisy quarrel or brawl.
  2. v. Archaic To frighten.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To frighten; terrify; give a shock to; arouse; disturb.
  2. n. Fear; terror.
  3. n. Disturbance involving terror.
  4. n. A public fight; a noisy quarrel; a brawl; a tumult; disturbance. Specifically, in law, the fighting of two or more persons in a public place to the terror of others. It usually implies a casual meeting, not by previous agreement to fight.
  5. n. Synonyms Broil. Scuffle, etc. See quarrel, n.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The act of suddenly disturbing any one; an assault or attack.
  2. n. A tumultuous assault or quarrel.
  3. n. The fighting of two or more persons, in a public place, to the terror of others.
  4. v. To startle from quiet; to alarm.
  5. v. To frighten; to scare; to frighten away.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To startle from quiet; to alarm.
  2. v. To frighten; to scare; to frighten away.
  3. n. obsolete The act of suddenly disturbing any one; an assault or attack.
  4. n. obsolete Alarm; terror; fright.
  5. n. A tumultuous assault or quarrel; a brawl; a fray.
  6. n. (Law) The fighting of two or more persons, in a public place, to the terror of others.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a noisy fight
  2. n. noisy quarrel

Etymologies

  1. From Middle English afraien ("to terrify, frighten"), from Anglo-Norman afrayer ("to terrify, disquiet, disturb"), from Old French effreer, esfreer ("to disturb, remove the peace from"), from es- ("ex-") + freer ("to secure, secure the peace"), from Frankish *friþu ("security, peace"), from Proto-Germanic *friþuz (“peace”), from Proto-Germanic *frijōnan (“to free; to love”), from Proto-Indo-European *prāy-, *prēy- (“to like, love”). Cognate with Old High German fridu ("peace"), Old English friþ ("peace, frith"), Old English frēod ("peace, friendship"), German Friede ("peace"). Compare also afear. More at free, friend. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English, from Old French effrei, esfrei, from esfraier, esfreer, to disturb; see prī- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Comanchero leader Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi was charged Monday with fighting in public in a way that caused bystanders to fear for their safety - a crime called affray - at the airport.”

    SFGate: Top News Stories

  • “New Orleans Times-Picayune, the involuntary manslaughter charge was dropped after Grant pleaded no contests to misdemeanor "affray" - fighting two or more persons in a public place.”

    chicagotribune.com - News

  • “The charges against the Commanchero members are for "affray" - fighting in public and causing bystanders to fear for their safety.”

    The Herald | HeraldOnline.com - Front

  • “He expressed a strong objection to having manual labour imposed upon him as well as his other work: but they maintained that if only he had called the affray "a struggle for daily bread" or "a fight for a livelihood," he would quite have enjoyed it; and they further suggested that such diversion must be much more interesting than being a mere commonplace tutor who only taught lessons.”

    The Heavenly Twins

  • “A bloody affray, which is obscurely related, had occurred in St. Louis between the Secessionists and Federalists.”

    The Civil War in America

  • “Think you could end up in a world of hurt mate specially because you have already admitted and taken the fine for affray, which is a lot worse than just fighting.”

    Army Rumour Service

  • “It spoke of the assassination as an "affray"; held forth violently against the mob spirit of the evening before; and stated vehemently its opinion that, now that”

    The Gray Dawn

  • “The Herald, after rashly treating the "affray" as a street brawl, lost hundreds of subscribers and most of its advertising.”

    The Gray Dawn

  • “The charges against the Commanchero members are for "affray" _ fighting in public and causing bystanders to fear for their safety.”

    Las Vegas Sun Stories: All Sun Headlines

  • “Lowe was said to have 26 previous convictions for offences such as affray and threatening behaviour and had been cautioned twice for assaults on Ms Richardson.”

    News round-up

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synonyms (15)

Words with the same meaning

  1. frighten
  2. scare
  3. disturbance
  1. brawl
  2. fight
  3. scuffle
  1. tumult
  2. contest
  3. encounter
  1. feud
  2. quarrel
  3. alarm
  1. terror
  2. fright
  3. fray

hypernyms (4)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. fight
  1. combat
  1. scrap
  1. fighting

same context (15)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. rencounter
  2. dissension
  3. broil
  1. scuffle
  2. fracas
  3. skirmish
  1. brawl
  2. shooting
  3. begad
  1. mêlée
  2. affright
  3. repulse
  1. toothpick
  2. altercation
  3. squabble

reverse dictionary (16)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. quarrel
  2. chaud-medley
  3. affrayment
  1. effray
  2. scuffle
  3. fray
  1. enfray
  2. affrayer
  3. a
  1. mêlée
  2. braw
  3. broil
  1. chance-medley
  2. fight
  3. row
  1. amok

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‘affray’ has been looked up 2923 times, loved by 3 people, added to 26 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 15.