fret

[L. rodo, rosi, rado, to scrape. To fret or gnaw gives the sense of unevenness, roughness, in substances; the like appearance is given to fluids by agitation.]

fret

To rub; to wear away a substance by friction; as, to fret cloth; to fret a piece of gold or other metal. \WWV”AD .

fret

To corrode; to gnaw; to ear away; as, a worm frets the planks of a ship.

fret

To impair; to wear away. By starts, his fretted fortunes give him hope and fear.

fret

To form into raised work.

fret

To variegate; to diversify. Yon gray lines that fret the clouds are messengers of day.

fret

To agitate violently.

fret

To agitate; to disturb; to make rough; to cause to ripple; as, to fret the surface of water.

fret

To tease; to irritate; to vex; to make angry. Fret not thyself because of evil doers. Psalm 37:1.

fret

To wear away; to chafe; to gall. Let not a saddle or harness fret the skin of your horse.

fret

verb intransitive

To be worn away; to be corroded. Any substance will in time fret away by friction.

fret

To eat or wear in; to make way of attrition or corrosion. Many wheels arose, and fretted one into another with great excoriation.

fret

To be agitated; to be in violent commotion; as the rancor that frets in the malignant breast.

fret

To be vexed; to be chafed or irritated; to be angry; to utter peevish expressions. He frets, he fumes, he stares, he stamps the ground.

fret

noun

The agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water; small undulations continually repeated.

fret

Work raised in protuberances; or a kind of knot consisting of two lists or small fillets interlaced, used as an ornament in architecture.

fret

Agitation of mind; commotion of temper; irritation; as, he keeps his mind in a continual fret. Yet then did Dennis rave in furious fret.

fret

A short piece of wire fixed on the fingerboard of a guitar, which being pressed against the strings varies the tone.

fret

In heraldry, a bearing composed of bars crossed and interlaced.

fret

verb transitive

To furnish with frets, as an instrument of music.