defray

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈfɹeɪ/

• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -eɪ

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

1. (obsolete) To spend (money).
2. To pay or discharge (a debt, expense etc.); to meet (the cost of something).
   • 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, ‘A Viennese grind’, The Economist, 30 Jul 2009:

     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, Roy Greenslade, The Guardian, 9 Dec 2010:

     In order to help defray the substantial costs involved, they then raised revenue through taking advertisements.

3. (now rare) To pay for (something).

• fedary, frayed