fret

Meaning

Noun

1. Agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or some other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
2. Agitation of the mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation.
3. Herpes; tetter (“any of various pustular skin conditions”).
4. 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.

Verb

1. (obsolete) Especially when describing animals: to consume, devour, or eat.
2. To chafe or irritate; to worry.
3. To make rough, to agitate or disturb; to cause to ripple.
4. In the form fret out: to squander, to waste.
5. To gnaw; to consume, to eat away.
6. To be chafed or irritated; to be angry or vexed; to utter peevish expressions through irritation or worry.
7. To be worn away; to chafe; to fray.
8. To be anxious, to worry.
9. To be agitated; to rankle; to be in violent commotion.
10. To have secondary fermentation (fermentation occurring after the conversion of sugar to alcohol in beers and wine) take place.

Verb

1. To decorate or ornament, especially with an interlaced or interwoven pattern, or (architecture) with carving or relief (raised) work.
2. To form a pattern on; to variegate.
3. To cut through with a fretsaw, to create fretwork.

Verb

1. To bind, to tie, originally with a loop or ring.
2. Musical senses.
3. Musical senses.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/fɹɛt/

Etymology

table
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”)