fret
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /fɹɛt/
rhymes: -ɛt
Forms: form: frets
form: fretting
form: fretted
form: fret
form: frate
form: fretted
form: fret
form: frate
form: fretten
Etymology: From Middle English frēten (“to eat (at), corrode, destroy, annoy”), from Old English fretan (“to eat up, devour; to fret; to break, burst”), 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 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.
Cognates
*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”)
*Danish fråse (“to gorge”)
Senses: examples: text: 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, [...]
ref: [c. 1370–1390, [William Langland], “Passus. xviii. de visione”, in The Vision of Pierce Plowman [...] (Cr, B-text) (in Middle English), London: […] Roberte Crowley, […], published 1550, →OCLC, folio lxxxxix, verso:
english: 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, …
translation: 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, …
bold_translation_offsets: 230
233
text: Their hearts alreadie fretted and cankered at the very roote, for the last disgrace received.
ref: 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:
text: And could we let a Light into their Bosoms, we should see them generally fretted and cankered with this secret and corroding Venom.
ref: 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:
glosses: Especially when describing animals: to consume, devour, or eat.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: To chafe or irritate; to worry.
examples: text: to fret the surface of water
text: 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.
ref: 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To make rough, to agitate or disturb; to cause to ripple.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: In the form fret out: to squander, to waste.
examples: text: VVhen thrid of life is almoſt fret in twaine,
To giue it ſtrength breeds thankes, and wonders too.
ref: 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act IV:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: To gnaw; to consume, to eat away.
examples: text: Fret not thy ſelfe becauſe of euill doers, neither bee thou enuious againſt the workers of iniquitie.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 37:1:
text: For when he knew his Rival freed and gone, / He ſwells with Wrath; he makes outrageous Moan: / He frets, he fumes, he ſtares, he ſtamps the Ground; / The hollow Tow'r with Clamours rings around: [...]
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, book I, page 17:
glosses: To be chafed or irritated; to be angry or vexed; to utter peevish expressions through irritation or worry.
examples: text: A wristband frets on the edges.
text: 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."
ref: 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:
glosses: To be worn away; to chafe; to fray.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XVIII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, pages 218–219:
text: 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.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
text: Critics were vehemently outspoken; but while they fretted about looks, they missed the cleverer points in the design itself.
ref: 1954 November, Frank Hewitt, “The First Decade of British 4-6-0 Locomotives—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 752:
text: Recruits have also fretted that the shares included in their offer letters could quickly become devalued if Mr. Musk succeeded in taking Twitter private.
ref: 2022 April 25, Kate Conger, “Twitter Employees Search for Answers as Musk Deal Takes Shape”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
glosses: To be anxious, to worry.
examples: text: Rancour frets in the malignant breast.
text: Beyond Tabor, the ſmall river Luſchnitze frets over craggy rocks, covered with thick woods, through which you continue your journey for three German miles, [...]
ref: 1789, John Gillies, chapter II, in A View of the Reign of Frederick II. of Prussia; with a Parallel between the Prince and Philip II. of Macedon, Printed for A[ndrew] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, in the Strand, →OCLC, page 142:
text: And mid-way through the channel met / Conflicting tides that foam and fret, / And high their mingled billows jet, / As spears, that, in the battle set, / Spring upward as they break.
ref: 1815, Walter Scott, “The Lord of the Isles”, in The Poetical Works of Walter Scott: Complete in One Volume, Frankfurt: Printed by and for H. L. Brœnner, published 1826, →OCLC, canto I, page 130:
text: The sea frets itself around it [South Stack, Wales, UK] and gurgles in the cavern; ledges and reefs abut on it.
ref: 1891 June, William H[enry] Rideing, “Safety on the Atlantic”, in Scribner’s Magazine, volume IX, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons; London: F[rederick] Warne & Co., →OCLC, page 700, column 2:
glosses: To be agitated; to rankle; to be in violent commotion.
examples: text: 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; [...]
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
topics: beverages
brewing
business
food
lifestyle
manufacturing
oenology
glosses: To have secondary fermentation (fermentation occurring after the conversion of sugar to alcohol in beers and wine) take place.
Derived terms: forfret
fretful
fretsome
fretter
fret the gizzard
fretting leprosy
fretty
overfret