| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| frazzle |
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| SYLLABICATION: | fraz·zle |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  fr z  l |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: fraz·zled, fraz·zling, fraz·zles
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. Informal To wear away along the edges; fray. 2. To exhaust physically or emotionally. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To become worn away along the edges. 2. To become exhausted physically or emotionally. | | NOUN: | 1. A frayed or tattered condition. 2. A condition of exhaustion: worked themselves to a frazzle. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Perhaps a blend of fray2and dialectal fazzle, to unravel (from Middle English facelyn, to fray, from fasel, frayed edge, probably diminutive of fas, rootlets, from Old English fæs).
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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