(v. t.) To rub; to wear off, or wear into shreds, by rubbing; to fret, as cloth; as, a deer is said to fray her head.
(v. i.) To rub.
(v. i.) To wear out or into shreads, or to suffer injury by rubbing, as when the threads of the warp or of the woof wear off so that the cross threads are loose; to ravel; as, the cloth frays badly.
(n.) A fret or chafe, as in cloth; a place injured by rubbing.
Example Sentences:
(1) The appointment of the mayor of London's brother, who formally becomes a Cabinet Office minister, is one of a series of moves designed to strengthen the political operation in Downing Street and to patch up the prime minister's frayed links with the Conservative party.
(2) In comparison with the controls, the isoproterenol-treated (Group A), the Ca-treated (Group B), and the diltiazem-posttreated (Groups E and F) showed severe myocardial cell damage, such as sarcolemmal disruption, mitochondrial swelling, intramitochondrial electron-dense granules, membranous structures along mitochondrial cristae, thickening or close packing of the Z-lines, separation of cell junctions, frayed myofibrils, clumping of chromatin, and intracellular fluid accumulation.
(3) Carefully pull the frayed seam over the original seam line and pin in place.
(4) Miliband steps back into the fray as ex-Labour MP Chris Mullin said the party should bring back "grown ups" such as ex-chancellor Alistair Darling, while Tony Blair's former spin chief Alastair Campbell said Labour had made a mistake by failing to defend Gordon Brown's economic record.
(5) De Blasio and Bratton have promised to mend the frayed relations between police officers and the city's minority communities.
(6) Failing to get her voice heard above the fray is the biggest danger.
(7) On the frayed, far south-western outskirts of Bogotá, the largest, poorest and most violent barrio in the Colombian capital stretches into the haze up the mountainside as far as the eye can see.
(8) But when I check in a week later, at the height of the expenses storm, the optimism is sounding a tad frayed.
(9) These included torn or frayed menisci and those which were displaced, usually in a mesial direction.
(10) The shops on Main Street were mostly empty, paint fraying on the window panes.
(11) The fraying may be a consequence of proteolytic processing of the precursor of the inhibitor protein during entry into the mitochondrion.
(12) Relations between the bank and the Cambodian government have frayed over plans by a property developer to fill in a lake in the middle of Phnom Penh to build luxury flats and high-end shops.
(13) The Al Ahly ultras say they will rejoin the fray when the time is right.
(14) If you only have an 20cm tin you can use that instead, but don't use all the batter – about 80% will suffice – otherwise you'll end up with a volcanic overspill, cake soldered to the floor of the oven and a frayed temper.
(15) Laszlo Andor, the EU's employment commissioner, warned that record unemployment and fraying welfare systems in southern Europe risk creating a new divide in the continent.
(16) But we may be permitted to hope there is now a chance that something of the old Canada, committed to moderation and multiculturalism at home and to multilateralism and cooperation abroad, will re-emerge from the fray.
(17) Type II alveolar cells increased in number and showed vacuolization, fraying and membrane disruption of their lamellar inclusions.
(18) But it's fair to say a fondness for sniping games marks me out as a coward who'd rather take potshots from a distance than actually climb down from the tree and enter the fray like a man, a theory backed up by the fact that while I love sniping, I detest "stealth games" (because it's scary when you get caught) and "boss fights" where you have to battle some gargantuan show-off 10 times your height who keeps knocking you on your arse with his tail.
(19) Now that Obama has thrown the dice and joined the fray in Syria, Britain will feel increasing pressure to do more to help.
(20) Both dyed and undyed sutures were consistently better than surgical gut with respect to pliability, strength, ease of passage, ease of tying, fraying, knot security, and overall handling.
Rub
Definition:
(v. t.) To subject (a body) to the action of something moving over its surface with pressure and friction, especially to the action of something moving back and forth; as, to rub the flesh with the hand; to rub wood with sandpaper.
(v. t.) To move over the surface of (a body) with pressure and friction; to graze; to chafe; as, the boat rubs the ground.
(v. t.) To cause (a body) to move with pressure and friction along a surface; as, to rub the hand over the body.
(v. t.) To spread a substance thinly over; to smear.
(v. t.) To scour; to burnish; to polish; to brighten; to cleanse; -- often with up or over; as, to rub up silver.
(v. t.) To hinder; to cross; to thwart.
(v. i.) To move along the surface of a body with pressure; to grate; as, a wheel rubs against the gatepost.
(v. i.) To fret; to chafe; as, to rub upon a sore.
(v. i.) To move or pass with difficulty; as, to rub through woods, as huntsmen; to rub through the world.
(n.) The act of rubbing; friction.
(n.) That which rubs; that which tends to hinder or obstruct motion or progress; hindrance; obstruction, an impediment; especially, a difficulty or obstruction hard to overcome; a pinch.
(n.) Inequality of surface, as of the ground in the game of bowls; unevenness.
(n.) Something grating to the feelings; sarcasm; joke; as, a hard rub.
(n.) Imperfection; failing; fault.
(n.) A chance.
(n.) A stone, commonly flat, used to sharpen cutting tools; a whetstone; -- called also rubstone.
Example Sentences:
(1) Neither acetylcholine nor leukotriene D4 altered tone of arterial rings after the endothelium had been intentionally disrupted by rubbing with a cotton-tipped applicator.
(2) Rubbed rings, but not intact ones, contracted when Ca2+ was added to a previously Ca2+-free medium containing angiotensin II or adrenaline.
(3) Immediately after eye rubbing the conjunctival epithelium was histologically disrupted and 50% of the mast cells showed evidence of degranulation.
(4) But this morning's right-of-centre national papers were determined to rub his nose in the dirt.
(5) Long-term rubbing of a pressure stocking and splint was believed to be responsible for breakdown in the graft of the patient who had a hypertrophic scar.
(6) I think we all pine for the good old days when politicians actually wrote bills, and bills actually became laws and can I rub your arms a little?
(7) The specific endonuclease Bam HI from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (RUB 500) has been purified to apparent homogeneity.
(8) Ultz, who is also a well-known stage designer, is the only white person in the company - something the play rubs his nose in.
(9) Who was the asshole who threw the bottle?” Matt asked, rubbing his sore spot.
(10) The fibromas were transmitted by intradermal and subcutaneous inoculation and by rubbing the virus preparation into tattoo sites.
(11) With advancing age, the ATP-induced relaxation in the rubbed rings decreased and was abolished.
(12) In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the American Psychiatric Association describes “frotteurism” as “recurrent, intense, or arousing sexual urges or fantasies, that involve touching and rubbing against a nonconsenting person”.
(13) Rubbed (endothelium-denuded) ring preparations at the age of 4-6 weeks showed a dose-dependent relaxation similar to that of the unrubbed rings.
(14) We found positive reactions in the prick test and rubbing test to the scales of the lizard Egernia cunninghami and others, which the patient kept as house-pets at this time or earlier.
(15) On the contrary, not all country dwellers are Tories; and fat cats, often Tory, will be rubbing their hands at the thought of asset-stripping another national resource.
(16) Ten rubs occurred in patients with pericardial effusion, five of whom had tamponade.
(17) But this will only rub more salt into the wounds at home.
(18) During each scratch cycle, the monoarticular knee extensor muscle is active when the limb rubs against the stimulated site, and there is rhythmic alternation between hip protractor and hip retractor muscle activity (Robertson et al., 1985).
(19) Oscar Pistorius rubs his face as he sits in the dock during his ongoing murder trial at a packed high court in Pretoria on May 5.
(20) Did it actually happen, that run of singles so strange and yet so strong that they rose to the higher reaches of the hit parade, rubbing shoulders with Showaddywaddy and the Nolans on Top of the Pops?