fret
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: beverages
brewing
business
food
lifestyle
manufacturing
mining
oenology
wine
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”)
Inflected forms:
form: frets
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: fretting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: fretted
pos: verb
tags: past
form: fret
pos: verb
tags: past
form: frate
pos: verb
tags: past
form: fretted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: fret
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: frate
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: fretten
pos: verb
tags: in-compounds
participle
past
usually
form: frets
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Especially when describing animals: to consume, devour, or eat.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
poetic
transitive
examples: 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, [...]
Their hearts alreadie fretted and cankered at the very roote, for the last disgrace received.
And could we let a Light into their Bosoms, we should see them generally fretted and cankered with this secret and corroding Venom.
gloss: To chafe or irritate; to worry.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
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.
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.
gloss: To make rough, to agitate or disturb; to cause to ripple.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to fret the surface of water
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.
gloss: In the form fret out: to squander, to waste.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
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.
gloss: To gnaw; to consume, to eat away.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: VVhen thrid of life is almoſt fret in twaine,
To giue it ſtrength breeds thankes, and wonders too.
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.
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.
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.
gloss: To mine by agitating or eating away at (ore in the bank of a river).
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: Aided by its burden of detrital matter, the river frets away the rocks along its banks and thus tends to widen its channel; while, at the same time, the coarse sediment scratching along the bottom, helps to tear it up and thus deepen the bed of the river.
[…]banks of rivers, with the washings of the water, there were divers times fretted out big pieces of gold. […]
gloss: To be chafed or irritated; to be angry or vexed; to utter peevish expressions through irritation or worry.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: Fret not thy ſelfe becauſe of euill doers, neither bee thou enuious againſt the workers of iniquitie.
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: [...]
gloss: To be worn away; to chafe; to fray.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: A wristband frets on the edges.
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."
gloss: To be anxious, to worry.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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.
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.
Critics were vehemently outspoken; but while they fretted about looks, they missed the cleverer points in the design itself.
Don't fret precious, I'm here
Step away from the window
Go back to sleep
Lay your head down child
I won't let the boogeyman come
Counting bodies like sheep
To the rhythm of the war drums
Pay no mind to the rabble
Pay no mind to the rabble
Head down, go to sleep
To the rhythm of the war drums
Recruits have also fretted that the shares included in their offer letters could quickly become devalued if Mr. Musk succeeded in taking Twitter private.
gloss: To be agitated; to rankle; to be in violent commotion.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Rancour frets in the malignant breast.
Beyond Tabor, the ſmall river Luſchnitze frets over craggy rocks, covered with thick woods, through which you continue your journey for three German miles, [...]
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.
The sea frets itself around it [South Stack, Wales, UK] and gurgles in the cavern; ledges and reefs abut on it.
gloss: To have secondary fermentation (fermentation occurring after the conversion of sugar to alcohol in beers and wine) take place.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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; [...]
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.
gloss: Agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or some other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
pos: noun
examples: 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: [...]
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.
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."
gloss: Agitation of the mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation.
pos: noun
examples: He keeps his mind in a continual fret.
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.
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; [...]
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.
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."
gloss: Herpes; tetter (“any of various pustular skin conditions”).
pos: noun
examples: 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).
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.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: in-plural
examples: 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.
After any great land-flood, in which it is supposed there are usually some new frets made in the banks of the rivers, these are carefully examined, to see whether any metalline stones may be found […] When the frets in the sides of rivers have been traced in vain, after searcher after a mine goes […]
Derived words: fretful
fretsome
fretter
fret the gizzard
overfret
fretty
Translations: