Frail

//fɹeɪl// adj, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Easily broken physically; not firm or durable; liable to fail and perish.

    "Returne with ſpeed, time paſſeth ſwift away, Our life is fraile, and we may dye to day."

  2. 2
    Weak; infirm.

    "Frail smoke of morning in the air and a sort of muffled hum that is not sound but is not silence either."

  3. 3
    In an infirm state leading one to be easily subject to disease or other health problems, especially regarding the elderly.
  4. 4
    Mentally fragile.
  5. 5
    Liable to fall from virtue or be led into sin; not strong against temptation; weak in resolution; unchaste.
Adjective
  1. 1
    easily broken or damaged or destroyed wordnet
  2. 2
    wanting in moral strength, courage, or will; having the attributes of man as opposed to e.g. divine beings wordnet
  3. 3
    physically weak wordnet
Noun
  1. 1
    A girl. dated, slang

    "She was the roughest, toughest frail, but Minnie had a heart as big as a whale."

  2. 2
    A basket made of rushes, used chiefly to hold figs and raisins.
  3. 3
    Synonym of farasola (“old unit of weight”).
  4. 4
    Synonym of flail. England, dialectal, obsolete

    "The scythe, the sickle and the flail (or "frail", is it is invariably called) - these should surely be incorporated in the county arms, for on their use much of the prosperity of Essex has always rested until now."

  5. 5
    a basket for holding dried fruit (especially raisins or figs) wordnet
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    The quantity of fruit or other items contained in a frail.
  2. 7
    the weight of a frail (basket) full of raisins or figs; between 50 and 75 pounds wordnet
  3. 8
    A rush for weaving baskets.
Verb
  1. 1
    To play a stringed instrument, usually a banjo, by picking with the back of a fingernail.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English frele, fraill, from Old French fraile, from Latin fragilis. Cognate to fraction, fracture, and doublet of fragile.

Etymology 2

From Middle English frele, fraill, from Old French fraile, from Latin fragilis. Cognate to fraction, fracture, and doublet of fragile.

Etymology 3

From Middle English frele, fraill, from Old French fraile, from Latin fragilis. Cognate to fraction, fracture, and doublet of fragile.

Etymology 4

From Middle English frayel, from Old French frael, fraiel, of unknown origin; possibly a dissimilatory variant of flael, flaiel (“flail”).

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