Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
†FRAYN, v. Also frayne, frain, frane.
1. To ask, inquire. Arch.Sc.(E) 1913 H. P. Cameron Imit. Christ iii. xxxi.:
We speir hoo muckle a man haes dune; . . . We frayn gin he be feerdy.
2. To insist; to urge, “including the idea of some degree of impatience or discontentedness, the verb to orp being given as synonymous” (Fif. 1825 Jam.).
[O.Sc. frayne, to ask, inquire, from a.1400, only poet., O.E. freȝnan, id.]
