fret

See also: FRET and frêt

English
WOTD – 21 May 2018

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English frēten (“to eat (at), corrode, destroy, annoy”), from Old English fretan (“to eat up, devour; to fret; to break, burst”),[1] from Proto-West Germanic *fraetan, from Proto-Germanic *fraetaną (“to consume, devour, eat up”), from Proto-Germanic *fra- (“for-, prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pro- (“forward, toward”)) + *etaną (“to eat”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (“to eat”)).

The word is cognate with Dutch vreten, fretten (“to devour, hog, wolf”), Low German freten (“to eat up”), German fressen (“to devour, gobble up, guzzle”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fraitan, “to devour”), Swedish fräta (“to eat away, corrode, fret”); and also related to Danish fråse (“to gorge”).

The senses meaning “to chafe, rub” could also be due to sound-association with Anglo-Norman *freiter (modern dialectal French fretter), from Vulgar Latin *frictāre, frequentative of Latin fricāre, from fricō (“to chafe, rub”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- (“to cut”); compare Old French froter (modern French frotter). The chief difficulty is the lack of evidence of the Old French word.[2]

Verb

fret (third-person singular simple present frets, present participle fretting, simple past fretted or fret or frate, past participle fretted or (usually in compounds) fretten)

  1. (transitive, obsolete or poetic) Especially when describing animals: to consume, devour, or eat.
    • [c. 1370–1390, [William Langland], “Passus. xviii. de visione”, in The Vision of Pierce Plowman [...] (in Middle English), London: […] Roberte Crowley, […], published 1550, →OCLC, folio lxxxxix, verso:
      At the beginning God gaue the dome him ſelfe / That Adam and Eue and all them that ſewed, / Shuld dye down right and dwell in pyne after, / If that they touched a tree and the frute eaten, / Adam afterwarde agaynſt hys defence / freet of that frute, and forſake as it were, / The loue of our lord and his lore bothe, [...]
      At the beginning God gave the judgment himself / That Adam and Eve and all them that ensued, / Should die down right and dwell in pain after, / If that they touched a tree and the fruit ate, / Adam afterward against his warning / Ate of that fruit, and forsook, as it were, / The love of our Lord and his lore both, [...]]
    • 1609, Ammianus Marcellinus, chapter XIV, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Roman Historie, containing Such Acts and Occurrents as Passed under Constantius, Iulianus, Iovianus, Valentinianus, and Valens, Emperours, book IX, London: Printed by Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 322:
      Their hearts alreadie fretted and cankered at the very roote, for the last disgrace received.
    • 1727–1728, Mather Byles et al., edited by Bruce [Ingham] Granger, Proteus Echo (1727–28): A Series of Essays and Poems [...] that Appeared in the New-England Weekly Journal [...] (History of Psychology Series; 420), Delmar, N.Y.: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, published 1986, →ISBN, page 75:
      And could we let a Light into their Bosoms, we should see them generally fretted and cankered with this secret and corroding Venom.
  2. (transitive) To chafe or irritate; to worry.
    • 1676, Richard Wiseman, “[A Treatise of Tumors.] Of an Herpes”, in Severall Chirurgical Treatises, London: Printed by E. Flesher and J[ohn] Macock, for R[ichard] Royston bookseller to His Most Sacred Majesty, and B[enjamin] Took at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-yard, →OCLC, page 80:
      A Perſon of Honour, of a full Body abounding with ſharp Humours, was ſeized with an Herpes on his right Leg. [...] [I]t inflamed and ſwelled very much, many Wheals aroſe, and fretted one into another, with great Excoriation.
    • 1823–1824, A[stley Paston] Cooper, “Lecture LII”, in The Lancet. [...] In Two Volumes, 3rd edition, volume II, London: Knight and Lacey, Paternoster-Row; and G. L. Hutchinson, the Lancet office, Strand, published 1826, →OCLC, pages 100–101:
      We sometimes perform an operation on the under lip [...] in consequence of / Cancer Labii [cancer of the lips], / Which disease generally arises from the use of a pipe, and the manner in which it happens is this:—the adhesive nature of the clay of which the pipe is made, causes it to adhere to the lip; at length the cuticle becomes torn off, and the continued irritation frets the sore into true cancerous disease.
    • 1882 June, [Margaret Oliphant], “The Ladies Lindores.—Part III.”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CXXXI (American edition, volume XCIV), number DCCC, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Co., 41 Barclay Street, →OCLC, chapter VII, page 708, column 2:
      Had Carry preferred mere wealth, weighed by such a master, to the congenial spirit of her former lover? It fretted the young man even to think of such a possibility. And the visitors had fretted him each in some special point.
  3. (transitive) To make rough, to agitate or disturb; to cause to ripple.
    to fret the surface of water
    • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto)‎, London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:
      Small lightes are ſoone blown out, huge fires abide, / And with the winde in greater furie fret: / The petty ſtreames that paie a dailie det / To their ſalt ſoveraigne with their freſh fals haſt, / Adde to his flowe, but alter not his taſt.
  4. (transitive) In the form fret out: to squander, to waste.
    • 1611, John Speed, “Henrie the Sixth, King of England, and France, Lord of Ireland: The Three and Fiftieth Monarch of England, His Raigne, Actes, and Issve”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of ye Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. [...], Imprinted at London: [By William Hall and John Beale] [...] and are to be solde by Iohn Sudbury & Georg Humble, in Popes-head alley at ye signe of ye white Horse, →OCLC; republished London: Printed by Iohn Beale, for George Hvmble, and are to be sold in Popes-head Pallace, at the signe of the White Horse, 1614, →OCLC, book 9, paragraph 55, page 665, column 1:
      Yorke hereupon conſults with his ſpeciall friends; [...] how Yorke might get the Crowne of England, and for that cauſe how to ruine or fret out the Duke of Sommerſet; who ſtanding, they were to looke for ſtrong oppoſition.
    • 1835, Louisa Sidney Stanhope, “Conclusion”, in Sydney Beresford. A Tale of the Day. [...] In Three Volumes, volume III, London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, Paternoster-Row, →OCLC, page 274:
      We are all hurrying down the one common stream to the great ocean of eternity: but are we performing our social duties, as citizens of the world, in sculking away into holes and corners, to fret out time and life, because God has judged fit to withdraw the favourite toy he lent us—not making us destitute—but graciously leaving in our keeping, ten thousand toys beside.
  5. (transitive, intransitive) To gnaw; to consume, to eat away.
    • 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act IV:
      VVhen thrid of life is almoſt fret in twaine,
      To giue it ſtrength breeds thankes, and wonders too.
    • 1677, Edward Browne, “A Journey from Vienna in Austria to Hamburg”, in An Account of Several Travels through a Great Part of Germany: In Four Journeys. [...], London: Printed for Benj[amin] Tooke, and are to be sold at the sign of the Ship in St. Paul's Church-yard, →OCLC, page 136:
      The Mines are cold where the outward Air comes in; but where not, warm. The greateſt trouble they have is by duſt, which ſpoileth their Lungs and Stomachs, and frets their Skins.
    • 1881, Frederick W[illiam] Robertson, “The Peace of God”, in “The Human Race” and Other Sermons Preached at Cheltenham, Oxford, and Brighton, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square, →OCLC, page 233:
      You may see the surges wear and fret away the basement of the cliff against which they dash themselves, and the mass of broken rock falls into the depth and disappears, and then it is carried away by the tide as it retires.
    • 1886 January 5, Samuel West, “Some Aneurysms of the Heart, Many of the Cases Exhibiting the Effects of Erosion”, in Transactions of the Pathological Society of London, volumes XXXVII (Comprising the Report of the Proceedings for the Session 1885–86), London: Smith, Elder & Co., 15, Waterloo Place, →OCLC, page 159:
      In all the present cases it is the aortic valves that are the source of the mischief. Vegetations, massive, tough, and often calcareous have formed upon these valves, and as they were drive to and fro by the blood-stream have fretted the parts with which they came into contact, and aneurysm at these spots has been the frequent result.
  6. (transitive, intransitive) To be chafed or irritated; to be angry or vexed; to utter peevish expressions through irritation or worry.
  7. (intransitive) To be worn away; to chafe; to fray.
    A wristband frets on the edges.
    • 1893, A[lexander] Fraser-Macdonald, “The North Atlantic Viewed as a Region Traversed by Our Ocean Railways”, in Our Ocean Railways: Or, The Rise, Progress, and Development of Ocean Steam Navigation, London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, page 239:
      This, as Maury remarks, "suggested the idea that there was no running water nor abrading forces at play upon the bed of the deep sea, and consequently, if ever an electric cord were lodged upon the telegraphic plateau, there it would lie in cold abstraction; without anything to fret, chafe or wear, save alone the tooth of time."
  8. (intransitive) To be anxious, to worry.
    • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XVIII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, pages 218–219:
      With this answer Elizabeth was forced to be content; but her own opinion continued the same, and she left him disappointed and sorry. It was not in her nature, however, to increase her vexations by dwelling on them. She was confident of having performed her duty, and to fret over unavoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety, was no part of her disposition.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. But, after all, I shouldn't have expected nothing different. When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.
    • 2022 April 25, Kate Conger, “Twitter Employees Search for Answers as Musk Deal Takes Shape”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:
      Recruits have also fretted that the shares included in their offer letters could quickly become devalued if Mr. Musk succeeded in taking Twitter private.
  9. (intransitive) To be agitated; to rankle; to be in violent commotion.
    Rancour frets in the malignant breast.
  10. (intransitive, brewing, oenology) To have secondary fermentation (fermentation occurring after the conversion of sugar to alcohol in beers and wine) take place.
    • 1725, [Noël] Chomel, “CHERRY-WINE”, in R[ichard] Bradley, editor, Dictionaire Oeconomique: Or, The Family Dictionary. […], volume I (A–H), London: […] D[aniel] Midwinter, […], →OCLC:
      If their Cherries are full ripe and ſweet, they put only a Pound and an half of good Sugar to each gallon of Liquor, ſtir it well together, and cover it cloſe, and ſtir it no more till the next Day, then pour it carefully off the Lees as before; then let it ſtand again, and do the ſame the next Day into the Veſſel they keep it in: This may be repeated oftner, if they ſee the Lees are groſs, and like to make it fret when it is ſettled, then ſtop it up till ſeven or eight Months are paſs'd; at which time if perfectly fine, they bottle it; [...]
    • 1856, “The Art of Brewing”, in The Brewer: A Familiar Treatise on the Art of Brewing, with Directions for the Selection of Malt and Hops, &c., &c.: Instructions for Making Cider and British Wines: Also, a Description of the New and Improved Brewing Saccharometer and Slide Rule, with Full Instructions for Their Use, London: William R[obert] Loftus, 6, Beaufoy Terrace, Edgeware Road, →OCLC, page 50:
      It is important to allow beer to flatten, after it has ceased working. This is accomplished by leaving the casks open, when the small floating particles of yeast part with their fixed air, lose their buoyancy, and sink to the bottom. [...] The beer having thus deposited its remaining yeast will not be liable to fret.
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

fret (plural frets)

  1. Agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or some other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
    • 1724, Paul Neile, “Sir Paul Neile’s Discourse of Cider”, in John Evelyn, Silva: Or, A Discourse of Forest-trees, and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesty’s Dominions: [...] In Two Books. [...], 5th edition, London: Printed for J. Walthoe [et al.], →OCLC, page 91:
      Now though Cider uſed in my Method ſhould not ferment at all, till it come into the Bottle, and then but a little; yet the Cauſe of Fermentation being in a great Degree taken away, the reſt can do no conſiderable Harm to thoſe who drink it, [...] It is in your Power to give the Cider juſt as much fret as you pleaſe, and no more; and that by ſeveral ways: For either you may bottle it ſooner or later, as you pleaſe: Or you may bottle it from two Taps in your Veſſel, and that from the higher Tap will have leſs Fret, and the lower more: [...]
    • 1857, [Margaret Oliphant], “The First Day”, in The Days of My Life. An Autobiography. [...] In Three Volumes, volume III, London: Hurst and Blackett, publishers, successors to Henry Colburn, 13, Great Marlborough Street, →OCLC, page 4:
      The place was a little below Gravesend, quite out of the fret and bustle of the narrower river, and there was not even a steamboat pier to disturb the quiet of this cluster of harmless houses, though they watched upon their beach the passage of great navies down the greatest thoroughfare of England.
    • 1877, “BEER”, in Encyclopædia of Chemistry Theoretical, Practical, and Analytical as Applied to the Arts and Manufactures, volumes I (Acetic Acid – Gas), Philadelphia, Pa.: J. B. Lippincott & Co., →OCLC, page 315, column 2:
      When the pitching heat is high, and the yeast is of a good quality and in sufficient abundance, the fermentation proceeds so rapidly and with such energy that it becomes ungovernable; some means must therefore be employed to check the heat. For this purpose coils of pipe, through which water circulates, are fitted up in the tun. Unless this is done the whole of the glutinous constituents of the gyle is not removed in the yeast, and the liquor does not cleanse satisfactorily, in consequence of an after fermentation which sets in, which is technically known as the "fret."
  2. Agitation of the mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation.
    He keeps his mind in a continual fret.
    • 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 8, lines 146–151:
      Yet then did Gildon dravv his venal quill; / I vviſh'd the man a dinner, and ſate ſtill: / Yet then did Dennis rave in furious fret; / I never anſvver'd, I vvas not in debt: / If vvant provok'd, or madneſs made them print, / I vvag'd no vvar with Bedlam or the Mint.
    • 1836 December, “Art. IX. Transactions of the Institute of British Architects. Vol. I. Part I. London, 1836.”, in John Taylor Coleridge, editor, The Quarterly Review, volume LVIII, number CXVI, London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, →OCLC, page 524:
      It was our good fortune last autumn to escape from the feverish excitement and moral tension of this vast metropolis, from the hurry and fret of business, the glut of pleasure, the satiety of delight, the weariness of politics, and the exhausting duties of our critical function, into that favoured corner of our fortunate island, the West of England; [...]
    • 1897, B[everly] Carradine, The Sanctified Life, Cincinnati, Oh.: Office of the Revivalist, →OCLC, page 192:
      And the preacher who delivered the discourse went home and fretted; his wife, children and servants being witnesses. Sanctification takes the spirit of fret out of the heart.
    • 1980, Renaissance Papers, Durham, N.C.: Southeastern Renaissance Conference, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 50:
      After their introduction to Orlando, Celia wonders why Rosalind should be so morose ([William Shakespeare's As You Like It,] I.iii.10–19): [...] In her effort to cheer Rosalind, Celia compares these frets to burs, meaning the rough and prickly flowerheads: "They are but burs, cousin, thrown upon thee in holiday foolery."
  3. Herpes; tetter (“any of various pustular skin conditions”).
    • 1860, Robert J[acob] Jordan, chapter I, in Skin Diseases and Their Remedies, London: John Churchill, New Burlington Street, →OCLC, book I (Diseases of the Skin), page 57:
      Vesiculæ, or vesicles, are small, circumscribed elevations of the scarf-skin, containing serum, at first (both in their coats and contents) transparent, afterwards white and opaque, and terminating in the formation of scurf or thin scales. Under this head are ranged varicella (chicken-pox), sudamina, eczema (red fret), herpes (fret), scabies (itch).
    • 1867 April 25, [Colin Mackenzie], “Farriery”, in Mackenzie’s Ten Thousand Receipts, in All the Useful and Domestic Arts; Constituting a Complete and Practical Library, [...], new, carefully revised and re-written edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: T. Ellwood Zell & Company, Nos. 17 & 19 South Sixth Street, pages 112–113:
      To cure Gripes in Horses. This disorder goes by different names in different districts of the country; as fret, from the uneasiness attending it; bots, from its being thought to arise from these animals or worms, etc. [...] In speaking of the medicine for gripes, or the flatulent colic sometimes termed fret, Mr. White mentions, domestic remedies may be employed when proper medicines cannot be procured in time.
  4. (mining, in the plural) The worn sides of riverbanks, where ores or stones containing them accumulate after being washed down from higher ground, which thus indicate to miners the locality of veins of ore.
    • 1716, “[The Tin Mines in Devonshire and Cornwal] [marginal note]”, in John Lowthorp, editor, The Philosophical Transactions, and Collections, to the End of the Year 1700, Abridg’d and Dispos’d under General Heads, volume II (Containing All the Physiological Papers), London: Printed for Robert Knaplock, at the Bishop's-Head; Richard Wilkin, at the King's-Head; and Henry Clements, at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-yard, →OCLC, page 566:
      Then we obſerve the Frets in the Banks of Rivers that are newly made by any great Land-Flood, which uſually are then very clean, to ſee, if happily we can diſcover any metalline Stones in the Sides and Bottoms thereof, together with the Caſt of the Country (i.e. any earth of a different colour from the reſt of the Bank), which is a great help to direct us, which ſide or hill to ſearch into.

Etymology 2

The armorial bearings of the Audley family of Much Marcle, Herefordshire, England, UK, emblazoned “gules a fret or” – a red field with a gold fret (noun sense 2)

From Middle English frēten (“to decorate”), from Old French freté,[3] freter, fretter (“to fret (decorate with an interlacing pattern)”), from Old French fret (from fraindre (“to break”), from Latin frangō (“to break, shatter”), from Proto-Italic *frangō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”)) + Old French -er (“suffix forming verbs”) (from Latin -āre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃enh₂- (“to burden, charge”)).

Noun

fret (plural frets)

  1. An ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines, often in relief.
    • 1682 July 30, John Evelyn, edited by William Bray, The Diary of John Evelyn: Edited from the Original MSS. [...] In Two Volumes (Universal Classics Library), volume II, New York, N.Y., London: M. Walter Dunne, publisher, published 1901, →OCLC, page 170:
      Went to visit our good neighbor, Mr. Bohun, whose whole house is a cabinet of all elegancies, especially Indian; [...] [A]bove all, his lady's cabinet is adorned on the fret, ceiling, and chimney-piece with Mr. Gibbons's best carving.
    • 1943, Homes and Gardens, volume 25, London: [s.n.], published 1944, →OCLC, page 40:
      Remove spills from grill frets with a cloth and brush the frets with a stiff brush when dry and cold.
    • 2007, Nancy Edwards, A Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture in Wales, volume 2 (South-west Wales), Cardiff, Wales: University of Wales Press, →ISBN, page 136:
      Square unit of nondescript frets which interlace in the centre to form a cruciform shape.
  2. (heraldry) A saltire interlaced with a mascle.
    • 1764, Temple Henry Croker, Thomas Williams, Samuel Clark [et al.], “DIAPERED”, in The Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, volume I, London: Printed for the authors, and sold by J. Wilson & J. Fell, Pater-noster Row; [et al.], →OCLC:
      DIAPERED, or Diapre, in heraldry, the dividing of a field in planes, like fret-work, and filling the ſame with variety of figures. This chiefly obtains on bordures, which are diapered or fretted over, and the frets charged with things proper for bordures.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb
A 19th-century fretted (verb sense 1) wooden skylight grid, from the collection of the Museum für Volkskultur (Museum for Folk Culture) in Württemberg, Germany

fret (third-person singular simple present frets, present participle fretting, simple past and past participle fretted)

  1. (transitive) To decorate or ornament, especially with an interlaced or interwoven pattern, or (architecture) with carving or relief (raised) work.
  2. (transitive) To form a pattern on; to variegate.
    • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 114, column 2:
      Decius. Here lyes the Eaſt: doth not the Day breake heere? [...] Cin[na]. O pardon, Sir, it doth; and yon grey Lines, / That fret the Clouds, are Meſſengers of Day.
    • 1882 July 29, J. Henry Shorthouse, “The Marquis Jeanne Hyacinth De St. Palaye [from Macmillan’s Magazine]”, in Littel’s Living Age, volume XXXIX (Fifth Series; volume CLIV overall), number 1988, Boston, Mass.: Littel & Co., →OCLC, section V, page 228, column 1:
      The sun shone brilliantly through the trembling leaves, birds of many colors flitted from spray to spray, butterflies and bright insects crossed the fretted work of light and shade.
  3. (transitive) To cut through with a fretsaw, to create fretwork.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 3

The frets of a guitar (sense 2) are the narrow pieces laid across the guitar’s neck at right angles to the strings

From Middle English freten (“to bind”), from Old French freter, from frete (“ferrule, ring”) (modern French frette). The origin of the music senses are uncertain; they are possibly from frete or from fret (“to chafe, rub”).[4]

Noun

fret (plural frets)

  1. (obsolete or dialectal) A ferrule, a ring.
  2. (music) One of the pieces of metal, plastic or wood across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument that marks where a finger should be positioned to depress a string as it is played.
    • 1880, A. J. H[ipkins], “LUTE”, in George Grove, editor, A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (A.D. 1450–1880) [...] In Three Volumes, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 175, column 2:
      The long-necked Egyptian Nefer was certainly depicted in the 4th dynasty; and wall-painting of the time of Moses, preserved in the British Museum, shows that it then had frets.
    • 1916, “History of the Orchestra”, in Daniel Gregory Mason, editor-in-chief, Benjamin Lambord, editors, The Orchestra and Orchestral Music (The Art of Music: A Comprehensive Library of Information for Music Lovers and Musicians; 8), New York, N.Y.: The National Society of Music, →OCLC, section III, page 69:
      The frets of the lute marked whole tones, while those of the guitar were a semi-tone apart.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

fret (third-person singular simple present frets, present participle fretting, simple past and past participle fretted)

  1. To bind, to tie, originally with a loop or ring.
  2. (transitive, music) Musical senses.
    1. To fit frets on to (a musical instrument).
      to fret a guitar
    2. To press down the string behind a fret.
      • 2015, Drew Turrill, “Step by Step Exercises”, in Don’t Fret – Learn Lead Guitar the Easy Way, [s.l.]: BookBaby, →ISBN:
        Note that right next to the headstock, the boxes may utilize some open notes in place of fretting with the pointer finger because the nut will effectively fret the notes for you […].
Translations
to bind, tie — see bind

References

Etymology 4

From Latin fretum (“channel, strait”).

Noun

fret (plural frets)

  1. A channel, a strait; a fretum.
    • 1589, Humfrey Gilbert [i.e., Humphrey Gilbert], “A Discourse Written by Sir Humfrey Gilbert Knight, to Prooue a Passage by the Northwest to Cathaia, and the East Indies”, in Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC, chapter 1 (To Prooue by Authoritie a Passage to be on the North Side of America, to Go to Cathaia, and the East India), page 597:
      I came in fine to the fourth part of the world, commonly called America, which by all deſcriptions I found to be an Iſland enuironed around about with the Sea, hauing on the Southſide of it, the frete, or ſtraight of Magellan, [...]
    • 1721, Joseph Addison, “Pesaro, Fano, Senigallia, Ancona, Loretto, &c. to Rome”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq, volumes II (Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703), London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head, over-against Katherine-street in the Strand, →OCLC, page 56:
      The river Velino, after having found its way from among the rocks where it falls, runs into the Nera. The channel of this laſt river is white with rocks, and the ſurface of it, for a long ſpace, covered with froth and bubbles; for it runs all along upon the fret, and is ſtill breaking againſt the ſtones that oppoſe its paſſage: [...]

Etymology 5

From Old French frete, fraite, fraicte, possibly partly confused with fret (“channel, strait”).[5]

Noun

fret (plural frets)

  1. (rare) A channel or passage created by the sea.

Etymology 6

Attested since the mid-1800s, of unknown origin.[6] Perhaps related to fret (“to form a pattern upon”),[7] fret (“to consume”) (as the fog does the land), or fret (“to agitate the surface of water”) (as the wind which blows the fog inland does); compare the semantics of haar (“cold wind; misty wind; fog, mist”). Dialectally, the spelling freet and pronunciation /fɹit/ are also found, as they also are for fret (“consume; agitate”).[8]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /fɹɛt/

Noun

fret (plural frets)

  1. (Northumbria) A fog or mist at sea, or coming inland from the sea.
    • 2008, Trezza Azzopardi, Winterton Blue: A Novel, page 14:
      The wind brings a fret off the ocean; not cold, but achingly damp.
Derived terms

References
  1. “frēten, v.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 18 February 2018.
  2. Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
  3. “frēten, v.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 18 February 2018.
  4. Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.; Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
  5. Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
  6. “fret”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  7. “sea fret”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  8. Joseph Wright, editor (1900), “FRET”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volumes II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC.

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /frɛt/
  • audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: fret
  • Rhymes: -ɛt
  • Homophone: Fred

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch furet, fret, from Old French furet, from Vulgar Latin *fūrittus, diminutive of Latin fūr (“thief”).

Noun

fret m (plural fretten, diminutive fretje n)

  1. ferret, Mustela putorius furo
Hypernyms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English fret.

Noun

fret m (plural frets, diminutive fretje n)

  1. (music) fret, on the neck on for example a guitar

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French fret, from Middle Dutch vrecht, from Old Dutch *frēht, from Proto-West Germanic *fra- + *aihti.

Pronunciation

Noun

fret m (plural frets)

  1. (shipping) freight, cargo fees: the cost of transporting cargo by boat
  2. (by extension) rental of a ship, in whole or in part
  3. freight, cargo, payload (of a ship)
    • 2008 March 9, Reuters, “L'ATV Jules Verne né sous une bonne étoile”,
      Il n’y aura plus alors que les vaisseaux Progress russes pour emmener du fret à bord de la station spatiale, et les Soyouz pour les vols habités.
      So there will only be the Russian Progress shuttles to take freight aboard the space station, and the Soyuz for manned flights.

Descendants
  • → Portuguese: frete
  • → Spanish: flete

Further reading

Gothic

Romanization

frēt

  1. Romanization of 𐍆𐍂𐌴𐍄

Middle English

Etymology 1

Either inherited from Old English *frǣt (compare ǣt) or a back-formation from freten.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /frɛːt/

Noun

fret (uncountable)

  1. Eating up; wearing away.
Descendants
References

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old French fret, past participle of fraindre; compare freten (“to decorate”).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /frɛt/

Noun

fret (plural frettes)

  1. A decoration or adornment.
  2. A netted headcovering.
  3. (heraldry) A thin saltire.
Descendants
References

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Old French frette (“ring, loop”), of unclear origin; compare freten (“to bind”).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /frɛt/, /frɛːt/

Noun

fret (plural frettes)

  1. (rare) A tie or loop.
Descendants
References

Etymology 4

Borrowed from Old French fret, frait, from Latin fractum.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /frɛt/

Noun

fret

  1. (rare) A fee (usually paid to secure peace).
References

Verb

fret

  1. Alternative form of freten (“to decorate”)

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle Dutch vrecht.

Noun

fret oblique singular, m (oblique plural frez or fretz, nominative singular frez or fretz, nominative plural fret)

  1. charge (demand of payment in exchange for goods or services)
Descendants

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

fret

  1. past participle of fraindre
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