FRAYED

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does frayed mean? 

• FRAYED (adjective)
  The adjective FRAYED has 1 sense:

1. worn away or tattered along the edges

  Familiarity information: FRAYED used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FRAYED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Worn away or tattered along the edges

Context example:

frayed cuffs

Similar:

worn (affected by wear; damaged by long use)

 Context examples 

Then he carefully scrutinized the broken and frayed end where it had snapped off when the burglar had dragged it down.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I saw something like them in Hampton Court, but there they were worn and frayed and moth-eaten.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A cheap cotton shirt, with frayed collar and a bosom discoloured with what I took to be ancient blood-stains, was put on me amid a running and apologetic fire of comment.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was certainly more roomy than the ordinary four-wheeled disgrace to London, and the fittings, though frayed, were of rich quality.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“It is of import,” said he, “for I love to keep my hair well ordered, seeing that the weight of my helmet for thirty years hath in some degree frayed it upon the top.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What else was it possible to infer from what you said, you unkind creature, when you know as well as I do, that on his account only last quarter I wouldn't buy myself a new parasol, though that old green one is frayed the whole way up, and the fringe is perfectly mangy?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

At every jump too, Hands appeared still more to sink into himself and settle down upon the deck, his feet sliding ever the farther out, and the whole body canting towards the stern, so that his face became, little by little, hid from me; and at last I could see nothing beyond his ear and the frayed ringlet of one whisker.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But the other end is not frayed.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Nay, Aylward, said Alleyne, laying his hand upon the sleeve of his companion's frayed jerkin, you cannot think me so thrall as to throw aside an old friend because I have had some small share of good fortune.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)