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
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.
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."