verb/fʁo.le/
to brush against, touch, skim, graze, skirt; to verge on
“C’est pour avertir mes amis d’un danger qu’ils frôlaient depuis longtemps, comme moi-même, sans le connaître, que j’ai tant travaillé ce dessin-là. La leçon que je donnais en valait la peine.” — It was to warn my friends of a danger that they had been skirting for a long time, like myself, without knowing it, that I worked so hard on that drawing. The lesson I was giving was worth it.
Probably imitative.