Abraiding

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of damaging or eroding a surface due to contact or friction
2. The action of gradually scraping off material, causing a reduction in size or smoothness
3. The act of gradually wearing down a surface through rubbing or friction

Etymology: "Abraiding" is the present participle of "abraid," a verb now used mainly in the sense of scraping something away by rubbing. Its ancestry is older and more physical than that sense suggests. In Old English, "ābreġdan" meant to move quickly, pull out, draw back, or unsheathe a blade, combining the prefix meaning "out" with a Germanic root for swinging or moving. The Middle English descendants stretched that core of sudden motion in several directions, meaning to awake or start up, and also to reproach someone. The scraping sense belongs to a separate strand. "Abraid" is also linked to "abrede," a Middle English word, and the two forms appear to have blurred together over time. Behind the whole family sits a sense of drawing or dragging something out of its place, which is what makes rubbing a surface away a short step from pulling a blade free.

Synonyms: scolding, rebuking, chiding