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Definition fret

Etymology 1

From Middle English fr?ten (“to eat; to devour, eat up; to bite, chew; to consume, corrode, destroy; to rub, scrape away; to hurt, sting; to trouble, vex”), from Old English fretan (“to eat up, devour; to fret; to break, burst”), from Proto-Germanic *fraetan? (“to consume, devour, eat up”), from Proto-Germanic *fra- (“for-, prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pro- (“forward, toward”)) + *etan? (“to eat”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h?ed- (“to eat”)).

The word is cognate with Dutch vreten, fretten (“to devour, hog, wolf”), Low German freten (“to eat up”), German fressen (“to devour, gobble up, guzzle”), Gothic ??????? (fraitan, “to devour”), Swedish fräta (“to eat away, corrode, fret”); and also related to Danish fråse (“to gorge”).

The senses meaning “to chafe, rub” could also be due to sound-association with Anglo-Norman *freiter (modern dialectal French fretter), from Vulgar Latin *frict?re, frequentative of Latin fric?re, from fric? (“to chafe, rub”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *b?reyH- (“to cut”); compare Old French froter (modern French frotter). The chief difficulty is the lack of evidence of the Old French word.

Verb

fret (third-person singular simple present frets, present participle fretting, simple past fretted or fret or frate, past participle fretted or (usually in compounds) fretten)

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

fret (plural frets)

  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. (mining, in the plural) 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.

Etymology 2

From Old French frete (“ferrule, ring”) (modern French frette). The origin of the music senses are uncertain; they are possibly from frete or from fret (“to chafe, rub”).

Noun

fret (plural frets)

  1. (obsolete or dialectal) A ferrule, a ring.
  2. (music) One of the pieces of metal, plastic or wood across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument that marks where a finger should be positioned to depress a string as it is played.
Verb

fret (third-person singular simple present frets, present participle fretting, simple past and past participle fretted)

  1. To bind, to tie, originally with a loop or ring.
  2. (transitive, music) Musical senses.
    1. To fit frets on to (a musical instrument).
    2. To press down the string behind a fret.

Etymology 4

From Latin fretum (“channel, strait”).

Noun

fret (plural frets)

  1. A channel, a strait; a fretum.

Etymology 5

From Old French frete, fraite, fraicte, possibly partly confused with fret (“channel, strait”).

Noun

fret (plural frets)

  1. (rare) A channel or passage created by the sea.

Etymology 6

Of unknown origin.

Noun

fret (plural frets)

  1. (Northumbria) A fog or mist at sea, or coming inland from the sea.

Results 260 Words with the letters FRET

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7 letter words with the letters FRET 
6 letter words with the letters FRET 
5 letter words with the letters FRET 
4 letter words with the letters FRET 
FRET 7
REFT 7
TREF 7
3 letter words with the letters FRET 
EFT 6
FER 6
FET 6
REF 6
RET 3
2 letter words with the letters FRET 
EF 5
ER 2
ET 2
FE 5
RE 2

You can also try words with the phrase FRET, words starting with the letters FRET, or words ending in the letters FRET.