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defray - 4 dictionary results

de⋅fray

  [di-frey]
Use defray in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
to bear or pay all or part of (the costs, expenses, etc.): The grant helped defray the expenses of the trip.
Origin:
1535–45; < MF défrayer, OF deffroier to pay costs, equiv. to de- dis- 1 + frayer to bear the costs, deriv. of frais, fres (pl.) costs, prob. < L frācta things broken (see fracture ), hence, expense incurred from breakage

Related forms:
de⋅fray⋅a⋅ble, adjective
de⋅fray⋅er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To defray
de·fray   (dĭ-frā')   
tr.v.   de·frayed, de·fray·ing, de·frays
To undertake the payment of (costs or expenses); pay.

[French défrayer, from Old French desfrayer : des-, de- + *frai, expense (from Latin frāctum, from neuter past participle of frangere, to break; see bhreg- in Indo-European roots).]
de·fray'a·ble adj., de·fray'al n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Defray

De*fray"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Defrayed; p. pr. & vb. n. Defraying.] [F. d['e]frayer; pref. d['e]- (L. de or dis-) + frais expense, fr. LL. fredum, fridum, expense, fine by which an offender obtained peace from his sovereign, or more likely, atoned for an offense against the public peace, fr. OHG. fridu peace, G. friede. See Affray.]

1. To pay or discharge; to serve in payment of; to provide for, as a charge, debt, expenses, costs, etc.

For the discharge of his expenses, and defraying his cost, he allowed him . . . four times as much. --Usher.

2. To avert or appease, as by paying off; to satisfy; as, to defray wrath. [Obs.] --Spenser.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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defray 
1543, from M.Fr. defraier, from des- "out" + fraier "spend," from O.Fr. frais "costs, damages caused by breakage," from L. fractum, neuter pp. of frangere "to break" (see fraction). Alternate etymology traces second element to O.H.G. fridu "peace."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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