fret definition | Dictionary.com

fret

1 [fret]

verb, fret⋅ted, fret⋅ting, noun

–verb (used without object)

1.	to feel or express worry, annoyance, discontent, or the like: Fretting about the lost ring isn't going to help.

2.	to cause corrosion; gnaw into something: acids that fret at the strongest metals.

3.	to make a way by gnawing, corrosion, wearing away, etc.: The river frets at its banks until a new channel is formed.

4.	to become eaten, worn, or corroded (often fol. by away): Limestone slowly frets away under pounding by the wind and rain.

5.	to move in agitation or commotion, as water: water fretting over the stones of a brook.

–verb (used with object)

6.	to torment; irritate, annoy, or vex: You mustn't fret yourself about that.

7.	to wear away or consume by gnawing, friction, rust, corrosives, etc.: the ocean fretting its shores.

8.	to form or make by wearing away a substance: The river had fretted an underground passage.

9.	to agitate (water): Strong winds were fretting the channel.

–noun

10.	an irritated state of mind; annoyance; vexation.

11.	erosion; corrosion; gnawing.

12.	a worn or eroded place.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME freten, OE fretan to eat up, consume; c. OS fretan, Goth fraitan, OHG frezzan (G fressen)

Related forms:

fretter, noun

Synonyms:
1. fume, rage. 6. worry, harass, goad, tease. 7. erode, gnaw, corrode, abrade, grind, rub, rust. 10. harassment, agitation, worry.

fret

2 [fret]

noun, verb, fret⋅ted, fret⋅ting.

–noun

1.	an interlaced, angular design; fretwork.

2.	an angular design of bands within a border.

3.	Heraldry. a charge composed of two diagonal strips interlacing with and crossing at the center of a mascle.

4.	a piece of decoratively pierced work placed in a clock case to deaden the sound of the mechanism.

–verb (used with object)

5.	to ornament with a fret or fretwork.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME frette < ?; cf. MF frete trellis-work, OE fretwian, var. of frætwian to adorn

Related forms:

fretless, adjective

fret

3 [fret]

noun, verb, fret⋅ted, fret⋅ting.

–noun

1.	any of the ridges of wood, metal, or string, set across the fingerboard of a guitar, lute, or similar instrument, which help the fingers to stop the strings at the correct points.

–verb (used with object)

2.	to provide with frets.

Origin:
1490–1500; orig. uncert.

Related forms:

fretless, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To fret

fret¹ (frět)

v. fret·ted, fret·ting, frets

v. tr.

To cause to be uneasy; vex: "fret thy soul with crosses and with cares" (Edmund Spenser).
1. To gnaw or wear away; erode.
2. To produce a hole or worn spot in; corrode. See Synonyms at chafe.
To form (a passage or channel) by erosion.
To disturb the surface of (water or a stream); agitate.

v. intr.

To be vexed or troubled; worry. See Synonyms at brood.
To be worn or eaten away; become corroded.
To move agitatedly.
To gnaw with the teeth in the manner of a rodent.

The act or an instance of fretting.
A hole or worn spot made by abrasion or erosion.
Irritation of mind; agitation.

[Middle English freten, from Old English fretan, to devour; see ed- in Indo-European roots.]

fret² (frět)

n. One of several ridges set across the fingerboard of a stringed instrument, such as a guitar.
tr.v. fret·ted, fret·ting, frets

To provide with frets.
To press (the strings of an instrument) against the frets.

[Origin unknown.]

fret³ (frět)

An ornamental design consisting of repeated and symmetrical geometric figures, often in relief, contained within a band or border. Also called key pattern.
A headdress, worn by women of the Middle Ages, consisting of interlaced wire.

tr.v. fret·ted, fret·ting, frets
To provide with such a design or headdress.

[Middle English, interlaced work, from Old French frete.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Fret

Fret\ (fr[e^]t), n. [Obs.] See 1st Frith.

Fret

Fret\ (fr[e^]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fretted; p. pr. & vb. n. Fretting.] [OE. freten to eat, consume; AS. fretan, for foretan; pref. for- + etan to eat; akin to D. vreten, OHG. frezzan, G. fressen, Sw. fr["a]ta, Goth. fra-itan. See For, and Eat, v. t.]

1. To devour. [Obs.]

The sow frete the child right in the cradle. --Chaucer.

2. To rub; to wear away by friction; to chafe; to gall; hence, to eat away; to gnaw; as, to fret cloth; to fret a piece of gold or other metal; a worm frets the plants of a ship.

With many a curve my banks I fret. --Tennyson.

3. To impair; to wear away; to diminish.

By starts His fretted fortunes give him hope and fear. --Shak.

4. To make rough, agitate, or disturb; to cause to ripple; as, to fret the surface of water.

5. To tease; to irritate; to vex.

Fret not thyself because of evil doers. --Ps. xxxvii. 1.

Fret

Fret\, v. i. 1. To be worn away; to chafe; to fray; as, a wristband frets on the edges.

2. To eat in; to make way by corrosion.

Many wheals arose, and fretted one into another with great excoriation. --Wiseman.

3. To be agitated; to be in violent commotion; to rankle; as, rancor frets in the malignant breast.

4. To be vexed; to be chafed or irritated; to be angry; to utter peevish expressions.

He frets, he fumes, he stares, he stamps the ground. --Dryden.

Fret

Fret\, n. 1. The agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water. --Addison.

2. Agitation of mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation; as, he keeps his mind in a continual fret.

Yet then did Dennis rave in furious fret. --Pope.

3. Herpes; tetter. --Dunglison.

4. pl. (Mining) The worn sides of river banks, where ores, or stones containing them, accumulate by being washed down from the hills, and thus indicate to the miners the locality of the veins.

Fret

Fret\, v. t. [OE. fretten to adorn, AS. fr[ae]twan, fr[ae]twian; akin to OS. fratah[=o]n, cf. Goth. us-fratwjan to make wise, also AS. fr[ae]twe ornaments, OS. fratah[=i] adornment.] To ornament with raised work; to variegate; to diversify.

Whose skirt with gold was fretted all about. --Spenser.

Yon gray lines, That fret the clouds, are messengers of day. --Shak.

Fret

Fret\, n. 1. Ornamental work in relief, as carving or embossing. See Fretwork.

2. (Arch.) An ornament consisting of smmall fillets or slats intersecting each other or bent at right angles, as in classical designs, or at obilique angles, as often in Oriental art.

His lady's cabinet is a adorned on the fret, ceiling, and chimney-piece with . . . carving. --Evelyn.

3. The reticulated headdress or net, made of gold or silver wire, in which ladies in the Middle Ages confined their hair.

A fret of gold she had next her hair. --Chaucer.

Fret saw, a saw with a long, narrow blade, used in cutting frets, scrolls, etc.; a scroll saw; a keyhole saw; a compass saw.

Fret

Fret\, n. [F. frette a saltire, also a hoop, ferrule, prob. a dim. of L. ferrum iron. For sense 2, cf. also E. fret to rub.]

1. (Her.) A saltire interlaced with a mascle.

2. (Mus.) A short piece of wire, or other material fixed across the finger board of a guitar or a similar instrument, to indicate where the finger is to be placed.

Fret

Fret\, v. t. To furnish with frets, as an instrument of music.

Language Translation for : fret

Spanish: preocuparse,

German: sich grämen,

Japanese: いらだつ

More Translations »

fret (v.)

O.E. fretan "eat, devour" (in O.E., used of monsters and Vikings; in M.E., used of animals' eating), from P.Gmc. compound *fra- "for-" + *etan "to eat" (cf. Du. vreton, O.H.G. freggan, Ger. fressen, Goth. fraitan). Figurative sense of "irritate, worry, eat one's heart out" is c.1200. Modern Ger. still distinguishes essen for humans and fressen for animals.

fret (n.)

"ornamental interlaced pattern," c.1386, from O.Fr. frete "interlaced work, trellis work," probably from Frank. *fetur (cf. O.E. fetor, O.H.G. feggara "fetter") perhaps from notion of "decorative anklet," or of materials "bound" together. The other noun, "ridge on the fingerboard of a guitar," is c.1500 of unknown origin but possibly another sense of O.Fr. frete.

fret

in decorative art and architecture, any one of several types of running or repeated ornament, consisting of lengths of straight lines or narrow bands, usually connected and at right angles to each other in T, L, or square-cornered G shapes, so arranged that the spaces between the lines or bands are approximately equal to the width of the bands. Occasionally the system is arranged so that the lines intersect or interlace, as in the common swastika fret. Because the fret is one of the simplest and most natural of decorative forms, it is one of the most widely spread, found from early times in most art forms and on all continents. Thus, it was a favourite decoration, during and after the 4th dynasty, for the ceilings of tombs in Egypt, where in later examples it was combined with rosettes, scarabs, and the lotus into patterns of great richness.

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