Fret

English

Verb

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

1. (transitive, obsolete/poetic) To devour, consume; eat.

   Adam freet of that fruit, And forsook the love of our Lord. — Piers Ploughman.

2. (transitive and intransitive) To gnaw, consume, eat away.
3. (transitive) To cut through with fretsaw, create fretwork.
4. (transitive) To chafe or irritate; to worry.
5. (intransitive) To worry or be anxious.

Noun

Fret (plural Frets)

1. (music) One of the pieces of metal/wood/plastic across the neck of a guitar or other musical instrument that marks note positions for fingering.
2. An ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines (often in relief).

Derived terms

• fretboard

Noun

Fret (plural Frets)

1. A strait; channel.

Related terms

• fretum
• transfrete

Noun

Fret (plural Frets)

1. (dialect, North East England) A fog or mist at sea or coming inland from the sea

Adverbs for Fret

pettishly; childishly; morbidly; irritatingly; unreasoningly; unintelligently; abnormally; pathologically.

Thesaurus

ablate, abrade, abrase, ache, achievement, aching, afflict, aggravate, agitate, agonize, ail, air a grievance, alerion, angina, animal charge, annoy, annulet, arabesque, argent, armorial bearings, armory, arms, arouse, azure, backache, bandeau, bar, bar sinister, bark, basketry, basketwork, baton, be concerned, be livid, be pissed, bearings, beat, beat up, beef, bellyache, bend, bend sinister, beset, billet, bitch, bite, blazon, blazonry, bleed, blemish, bloody, bluster, boil, bordure, bother, break, bristle, broad arrow, brood, brood over, browned off, bug, burn, burn to, cadency mark, cancellation, canton, carp at, carry on, cephalalgia, chafe, chaplet, charge, check, chevron, chief, chip, churn, churn up, clamor, claw, coat of arms, cockatrice, cockle, colic, collywobbles, complain, concern, convulse, coronet, crab, crack, craze, crescent, crest, croak, cross, cross moline, cross-hatching, crossing-out, crown, crucify, cut, device, difference, differencing, dimple, disarrange, discompose, disquiet, distress, disturb, dither, dog, dudgeon, eagle, earache, embitter, embitterment, erase, ermine, ermines, erminites, erminois, erode, escutcheon, exacerbate, exacerbation, exasperate, excite, excoriate, excruciate, exercise, falcon, ferment, fess, fess point, fester, field, file, filigree, flanch, flap, fleur-de-lis, flurry, fluster, flusteration, flustration, flutter, foofaraw, fracture, fray, frazzle, fret and fume, fret at, fretwork, fume, fur, fusil, fuss, fuss at, gall, garland, gash, get excited, give pain, gnaw, gnaw away, gnawing, go on, grate, grate on, grating, gravel, graze, grid, gridiron, grieve, griffin, grille, grillwork, grind, gripe, gripes, grit, groan, grouch, grouse, growl, grumble, grump, grunt, gules, gut-ache, gyron, hachure, harass, hardly wait, harrow, harry, hassle, hasten, hatching, hatchment, haunt, have a conniption, headache, heartburn, helmet, hemicrania, henpeck, heraldic device, high dudgeon, holler, honor point, hound, howl, huff, hurt, impalement, impaling, incense, incise, inescutcheon, inflame, inflict pain, injure, interlacement, intertexture, intertwinement, irk, irritant, irritate, irritation, itch to, jump the gun, kick, kill by inches, label, lace, lacerate, lacery, lacework, lacing, lather, lattice, latticework, lion, lodge a complaint, lozenge, maim, make mincemeat of, mantling, marshaling, martlet, martyr, martyrize, mascle, maul, megrim, mesh, meshes, meshwork, metal, miff, migraine, mope, motto, mourn, mullet, murmur, mutilate, mutter, nag, net, netting, nettle, network, nibble at, niggle, nip, nombril point, octofoil, odontalgia, or, ordinary, orle, otalgia, paddle, pain, pale, paly, pean, peck at, peeve, persecute, perturb, perturbate, pester, pet, pheon, pick at, pick on, pierce, pinch, pine, pine away, pique, pissed off, plague, plexure, plexus, pother, prick, prolong the agony, provocation, provoke, pucker, puncture, purpure, put to torture, pyrosis, quarter, quartering, rack, raddle, rage, raise Cain, raise a howl, raise hell, raise the devil, raise the roof, rankle, rant, rant and rave, rasp, rave, raze, register a complaint, rend, reticle, reticulation, reticule, reticulum, riddle, riffle, rile, rip, ripple, roil, rose, roughen, rub, rub away, rub off, rub out, ruffle, rumple, run, rupture, sable, saltire, savage, scald, scorch, scotch, scour, scrape, scratch, screen, screening, scrub, scuff, scutcheon, seethe, set on edge, set up, shake, shake up, shield, sick headache, sieve, simmer, sizzle, skin, slash, slit, smoke, smolder, sorrow, splitting headache, sprain, spread eagle, squawk, squirm, stab, stew, stick, sting, stir, stir the blood, stir up, stomachache, storm, strain, subordinary, sulk, sweat, sweat and stew, sweat it out, swirl, swivet, take on, tatter, tear, tenne, texture, throbbing pain, throw a fit, tiff, tincture, tissue, tizzy, toothache, torment, torse, torture, tracery, traumatize, trellis, trelliswork, tweak, twist, twitter, twitteration, unicorn, upset, vair, vert, vex, wait impatiently, wattle, wear, wear away, wear down, wear off, wear out, wear ragged, weather, weave, weaving, web, webbing, webwork, weft, whine, whip, whip up, whisk, wicker, wickerwork, work up, worry, wound, wreath, wrench, wring, yale, yap, yap at, yelp

Pronunciation

• IPA: /frɛt/
• Rhymes: -ɛt

Etymology 1

From Middle English freten, from Old English fretan (“to eat up, devour”), from Proto-Germanic *fraetanan (“to devour”), corresponding to for- +‎ eat. Cognate with Dutch vreten (“to devour, hog, wolf”), Low German freten (“to eat up”), German fressen (“to devour, gobble up, guzzle”), Danish fråse (“to gorge”), Swedish fräta (“to eat away, corrode, fret”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fraitan), 𐍆𐍂𐌰-𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fra-itan, “to devour”).

Etymology 2

Unknown

Etymology 3

From Latin fretum (“strait, channel”)

Etymology 4

Unknown

Translations

Verb

to devour, consume

French: dévorer (fr)

German: verschlingen (de)

to gnaw, consume, eat away

to cut through with fretsaw

French: ajourer (fr)

to chafe or irritate; to worry

Finnish: hermoilla, olla huolissaan

French: inquiéter (fr), tracasser (fr)

to worry or be anxious

Finnish: hermoilla, olla huolissaan French: s'inquiéter (fr), se tracasser (fr)

Latin: aestuō (la) Norwegian: fortvile

Noun

One of the pieces of metal/wood/plastic across the neck of a guitar

Finnish: otenauha German: Bund (de) m. Norwegian: bånd (no) n.

Polish: próg (pl) m. Spanish: ceja (es) f.

An ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines

Finnish: koristekuvio

Anagrams

• reft

---

Dutch

Pronunciation

• audio

  noicon

  (file)

Noun

fret m.

1. ferret, Mustela putorius furo

Anagrams

• erft, tref

---

French

Noun

Fret m. (plural Frets)

1. (shipping) Freight, cargo fees: the cost of transporting cargo by boat.
2. (by extension) Rental of a ship, in whole or in part.
3. Freight, cargo, payload (of a ship).
   • 2008 March 9, Reuters, “L'ATV Jules Verne né sous une bonne étoile”,

     Il n'y aura plus alors que les vaisseaux Progress russes pour emmener du fret à bord de la station spatiale, et les Soyouz pour les vols habités.

     So there will only be the Russian Progress shuttles to take freight aboard the space station, and the Soyuz for manned flights.