The AI-powered English dictionary
third-person singular simple present defrays, present participle defraying, simple past and past participle defrayed
To pay or discharge (a debt, expense etc.); to meet (the cost of something). quotations examples
The expenses of the war, while in progress, were defrayed by executing rich men and confiscating their property.
1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.29
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.
2009 July 30, ‘A Viennese grind’, The Economist
In order to help defray the substantial costs involved, they then raised revenue through taking advertisements.
2010 December 9, Roy Greenslade, The Guardian
(archaic) To pay for (something).
(obsolete) To spend (money).