Word: fresh Part of Speech: verb 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”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk frisk (“fresh”), Swedish frisk (“well, fresh”), 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. Pronunciation: /fɹɛʃ/ 1. To pack (fish) loosely on ice. Example: With the exception of about 1800 crans which were "rough packed," all the herrings landed during the winter months were freshed and kippered. Example: Aided by government propaganda, herring became an important British war-time food, not pickled, but 'freshed' (packed loosely in ice) and kippered. 2. To flood or dilute an area of salt water with flowing fresh water. Example: Our first assumption was that freshed sea water areas were favourable for these organisms. Example: Under the present river conditions, headwater discharge of 40,000 cusecs will be necessary during the non-freshed season to neutralise the landward drift of sediments throughout the tidal portion of the river. 3. To become stronger. Example: Horrible was now my condition, as the wind freshed up more and more. Example: I should have observed, that as we rounded the north-east point, the breeze freshed, and the squalls came heavy out of the gullies and deep ravines. 4. To rebore the barrel of a rifle or shotgun. Example: When the barrel became very rough the gun was taken to the local gunsmith and "freshed." Example: There is also the oft-heard plaint that "modern steel barrels can't be re-rifled or freshed out." 5. To update. Example: Thus the liberties of the nation, civil and religious, were laid freshed by his preaching, and. more and more confirmed in the presbyterian principles: and we likewise resorted for a time at West Calder kirk, to Mr. Patrick Shiels, by whose preaching I was yet more confirmed in the presbyterian way. Example: We need not assume that the famous village was considered the capital of the country spoken of; it is sufficient to know that the priests who freshed up the old Ta-ts'in lore in China, were proud of having been themselves born in the Holy Land; and if we consider the precedent set in the very T'ang-shu, where the whole of India is designated by the name of Buddha's birth place, Magadha, we need not be astonished to see the name of what they must have considered the spiritual capital of the Christian world applied to the country they came from. 6. To freshen up. Example: I freshed meself and followed after him and made choice of me dinner. Example: There was no need for them all to be there—most would be resting in their rooms, freshing from the journey—but she was on edge now, all the questions she could not ask running through her head. 7. To renew. Example: Q. Did you tell anybody this tale that you heard this man threaten what they were going to do?—A. No, sir; I didn't say nothing to anybody until Monday—Monday or Tuesday, one—then my mind was freshed. Example: In the nook of a wood where a pool freshed with dew Glassed, daybreak till evening, blue sky glimpsing through Then a star; or a slip of May-moon silver-white, Thridding softly aloof the quiet of night, Was a thicket of flowers. 8. Of a dairy cow, to give birth to a calf. Example: A cow was actually tested twice a month on the 5th and 25th of each month. The cow freshed December 15, her milk was good December 18, and she went dry October 30. Example: Fall Freshed Cows Produce More Milk.