Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AF-FRAY', or AF-FRAY'MENT, n. [Fr. effrayer, to frighten; effroi, terror; Arm. effreyza, effrey.]

1. In law, the fighting of two or more persons, in a public place, to the terror of others. A fighting in private is not, in a legal sense, an affray. – Blackstone.
2. In popular language, fray is used to express any fighting of two or more persons; but the word is now deemed inelegant.
3. Tumult; disturbance. – Spenser.