fresh
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /fɹɛʃ/
rhymes: -ɛʃ
Forms: form: fresher
form: freshest
Etymology: From Middle English fressh, from Old English fersċ (“fresh, pure, sweet”), from Proto-West Germanic *frisk (“fresh”), from Proto-Germanic *friskaz (“fresh”), from Proto-Indo-European *preysk- (“fresh”). The verb is from Middle English freshen (“to freshen”), from the adjective.
Cognate with Scots fresch (“fresh”), West Frisian farsk (“fresh”), Dutch vers (“fresh”), Walloon frexh (“fresh”), German frisch (“fresh”), French frais (“fresh”), Norwegian and Danish frisk (“fresh”), fersk, Icelandic ferskur (“fresh”), Lithuanian prėskas (“unflavoured, tasteless, fresh”), Russian пре́сный (présnyj, “sweet, fresh, unleavened, tasteless”). Doublet of fresco and frisk.
Slang sense possibly shortened form of “fresh out the pack”, 1980s routine by Grand Wizzard Theodore.
Senses: examples: text: He followed the fresh hoofprints to find the deer.
text: I seem to make fresh mistakes every time I start writing.
text: With his recent divorce still fresh in his mind, he was unable to concentrate on his work.
text: Where will you find a purer and more suggestive bit of criticism given in a fresher and more implicatory style than the following?
ref: 1854 October, “You have heard of Them”, in D. W. Holly, editor, The United States Review, New York, N.Y.: Lloyd & Brainard […], page 327:
text: Ross Douthat's gotten a lot of pushback for using his soapbox to complain that liberal Christianity lacks "a religious reason for its own existence." And with good reason—it'd be nice if the national paper of record's faithiest columnist could at least spin a fresher argument against us mainliners.
ref: 2012 July 17, Steve Thorngate, “Morice-Brubaker takes on Douthat”, in The Christian Century:
glosses: Newly produced or obtained; recent.
examples: text: After taking a beating in the boxing ring, the left side of his face looked like fresh meat.
text: I brought home from the market a nice bunch of fresh spinach leaves straight from the farm.
text: a glass of fresh milk
text: In fact, street food may well be fresher than that served in restaurants and cafes, as it is cooked at the point of sale. It's certainly much cheaper.
ref: 2000, Catherine Hanger, Morocco: World Food:
text: The ravenette smiled. Today was her little sister’s birthday, and what better way to commemorate than eating salad brimmed with the freshest of fruits. Following Tala, Amihan felt her heart sore. Luscious short brown hair, almond-shaped eyes, gleaming smiles, there is no one as extravagant as her beloved, Bagwis.
ref: 2020 September 23, Darcy Encarnacion, “When It Falls”, in Scribbles, volume 1, number 1, Manila: De La Salle University Writers’ Guild, page 14:
antonyms: stale
glosses: Not dried, frozen, or spoiled.
raw_tags: of food
examples: text: With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get[…]
ref: 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:
glosses: Still green and not dried.
raw_tags: of plant material
examples: text: What a nice fresh breeze.
text: The corridor stinks of sweat and cigarette smoke, and I daringly open the window a little. The freshest air floats in, smelling of sappy grasses, the delicate pollens of wild flowers, the resins of the pine forests; hinting at the chill blue scent of distant snows.
ref: 2013, Margaret Leroy, The English Girl, →ISBN:
synonyms: cool
glosses: Invigoratingly cool and refreshing.
examples: text: After a day at sea it was good to feel the fresh water of the stream.
text: There we made our ſhip faſt with foure ropes, in ſmooth water, and the freſh water ranne downe out of the hill into the ſea, […]
ref: a. 1628, Sir Francis Drake(?), The World Encompassed, Nicholas Bourne (publisher, 1628), page 49
text: When dissolved, it produces water sometimes perfectly fresh, and sometimes saltish; […]
ref: 1820, William Scoresby, An Account of the Arctic Regions, Archibald Constable & Co., page 230:
text: Additional changes that occur when water enters the lungs depend on whether the water is fresh or salt.
ref: 2009, Adele Pillitteri, Maternal and Child Health Nursing, Sixth Edition, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, →ISBN, page 1557:
antonyms: saline
glosses: Without salt; not saline.
raw_tags: of water
examples: text: Before the match, Hodgson had expressed the hope that his players would be fresh rather than rusty after an 18-day break from league commitments because of two successive postponements.
ref: 2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC:
synonyms: rested
antonyms: tired
glosses: Rested; not tired or fatigued.
examples: text: a fresh hand on a ship
synonyms: word: callow
word: experienceless
word: inexperienced
word: unexperienced
word: fresh
word: green
word: new
word: pup
word: raw
word: strange
word: unpracticed
word: unseasoned
word: unversed
glosses: In a raw or untried state; uncultured; unpracticed.
examples: text: these fresh nymphs
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
glosses: Youthful; florid.
examples: text: a fresh pair of sneakers
text: I've been thinking about the way you walk
 Baby ooh I like the way you talk
 Tell you something I really can't hide
 Heaven must have sent you to be by my side
 Fresh and lovely fresh like a dream come true
 I'll give anything to spend the night with you
ref: 1984, “Fresh”, in Emergency, performed by Kool & the Gang:
text: Because my devastating beats I know you will like / You see my beat box is fresh, it'll blow your mind
ref: 1988, “Supersonic”, performed by J. J. Fad:
synonyms: cool
fashionable
glosses: Good, fashionable.
examples: text: How long did Mr. Crisp stay with you?—He might have stayed two hours; he stayed some time after; he drank ale and got fresh.
ref: 1840, Parliamentary Papers, volume 9, page 43:
glosses: Tipsy; drunk.
Derived terms: afresh
box-fresh
breath of fresh air
crescent fresh
fresh air
fresh as a daisy
fresh as a rose
fresh as paint
fresh bean
fresh blood
fresh breeze
fresh cheese
Fresh Coast
fresh country egg
fresh country eggs
fresh cut
freshen
fresher
fresh eyes
fresh-faced
fresh fish
fresh food
fresh frozen plasma
fresh fucked fox in a forest fire
fresh gale
fresh grad
fresh ground
fresh-ground
fresh hell
freshie
freshish
fresh legs
freshling
fresh lumpia
freshly
freshman
fresh meat
freshmint
freshness
fresh-new
fresh off the boat
fresh out of
fresh-out-of-college
fresh pair of eyes
freshperson
fresh pursuit
fresh start
fresh up
fresh-water
fresh water
freshwater
freshwoman
fresh yeast
funky fresh
lemony fresh
refresh
refreshing
start a fresh hare
unfresh