Frail

Pronunciation

• IPA: en, /fɹeɪl/
• Rhymes: -en, -eɪl

From , fraill, from , from . Cognate to fraction, fracture, and .

Full definition of frail

Adjective

1. Easily broken physically; not firm or durable; liable to fail and perish.
• Marlowe Tamburlaine|1|I|i|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0HFGOmnsvAMC&pg=PP17|Returne with Å¿peed, time paÅ¿Å¿eth Å¿wift away,
  Our life is fraile, and we may dye to day.
2. Weak; infirm.
• 1993, John Banville, Ghosts, Frail smoke of morning in the air and a sort of muffled hum that is not sound but is not silence either.
3. (medical) In an infirm state leading one to be easily subject to disease or other health problems, especially regarding the elderly.
4. Mentally fragile.
5. Liable to fall from virtue or be led into sin; not strong against temptation; weak in resolution; unchaste.

Derived terms

• frail sister
• frailly
• frailness

Related terms

Noun

1. (dated, slang) A girl.
• Fitzgerald Tender is the Night|chapter=X|page=238|passage=There were five people in the Quirinal bar after dinner, a high-class Italian frail who sat on a stool making persistent conversation against the bartender's bored: “Si â€¦ Si â€¦ Si,” a light, snobbish Egyptian who was lonely but chary of the woman, and the two Americans.
• 1941, Preston Sturges, Five Screenplays Chapter w, Sullivan, the girl and the butler get to the ground. The girl wears a turtle-neck sweater, a cap slightly sideways, a torn coat, turned-up pants and sneakers.
  SULLIVAN Why don't you go back with the car... You look about as much like a boy as w:Mae West

Verb

1. To play a stringed instrument, usually a banjo, by picking with the back of a fingernail.

From , from , fraiel, of unknown origin; possibly a dissimilatory variant of flael, flaiel.

Noun

1. A basket made of rushes, used chiefly to hold figs and raisins.
2. The quantity of fruit or other items contained in a frail.
3. A rush for weaving baskets.

Noun

1. (dialectal, obsolete) Synonym of en.
• 1948, C. Henry Warren, The English Counties, Essex, Odhams, p. 170: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.

Anagrams