defray

English

WOTD – 29 June 2011

Etymology

From Middle French desfrayer, French défrayer, from dé- + Old French fraier (“to spend”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /dɪˈfɹeɪ/
(General Australian) IPA^(key): /dɪˈfɹæɪ/
- Audio (Queensland): (file)
Rhymes: -eɪ
Hyphenation: de‧fray

Verb

defray (third-person singular simple present defrays, present participle defraying, simple past and past participle defrayed) (transitive)

To pay or discharge (a debt, expense etc.); to meet (the cost of something).
Synonyms: finance, (obsolete, rare) fray, offset
- 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.29:
  The expenses of the war, while in progress, were defrayed by executing rich men and confiscating their property.
- 2009 July 30, ‘A Viennese grind’, The Economist:
  Investors, meanwhile, got back a fraction of their money. Some say Mr Meinl’s €100m bail, paid by a source in Liechtenstein, should be used to defray their losses.
- 2010 December 9, Roy Greenslade, The Guardian:
  In order to help defray the substantial costs involved, they then raised revenue through taking advertisements.
(archaic) To pay for (something).
(obsolete) To spend (money).

Derived terms

Translations

to pay or discharge (a debt, expense etc.); to meet (the cost of something)

Bulgarian: плащам (bg) (plaštam)
Catalan: costejar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 支付 (zh) (zhīfù)
Czech: hradit impf, uhradit pf, krýt (cs) impf, pokrýt pf
Dutch: bekostigen (nl), dekken (nl)
Finnish: kattaa (fi), kustantaa (fi), maksaa (fi)
French: défrayer (fr)
Galician: custear (gl), sosubir (archaic), sufragar
Polish: opłacać (pl) impf, opłacić (pl) pf, pokrywać koszty impf, pokryć koszty pf
Russian: опла́чивать (ru) (opláčivatʹ), плати́ть (ru) (platítʹ), (somewhat) покрыва́ть (ru) (pokryvátʹ); взять расхо́ды на себя (vzjatʹ rasxódy na sebja)
Spanish: costear (es)
Swedish: bestrida (sv), betala (sv), bära (sv)

Anagrams

fedary, frayed