fret 
mond-shaped figures. It is usual in the earlier medieval 
architecture. Fret couped, in In /.. a hearing similar to 
a fret, having tile ends of the liendlets cut otf so as not to 
reach the edges of the escutcheon. Fret fretted, in her., 
a fret of which the masele has each of its corners extended 
to form a loop or lozenge. Labyrinth fret, in arch., 
a fret with many involved tiiniin-*. Lozenge fret, an 
ornament used in Romanesque architecture, presenting 
an appearance of diagonal ribs inclosing lozenge- or dia- 
mond-shaped panels. See diamond fret. Per fret, in 
her., divideil by diagonal lines in the direction of the lines 
of the fret that is, huth saltierwist- and lozengewise: 
said of the field. Triangular fret, a dovetail-molding. 
fret 3 (fret), v. t. ; pret. and pp. fretted, ppr. fret- 
ting. [= OF. fretter, freter, cross, interlace; 
from the noun.] 1. To ornament with or as if 
with frets. 
We went through the long gallery, pav'd wi white & 
Mack marble, richly fretted and paynted a fresca. 
Eodyn, Diary, Feb. 8, 1844. 
They were of gold and silver, and were fretted like the 
west window of the Chaury Kirk. 
Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, quoted in Child's 
[Ballads, I. 249. 
White clouds sail aloft ; and vapors fret the blue sky 
with silver threads. Lanyfellme, Hyperion, iii. 1. 
2. To make a fret of. [Rare.] 
Ye hills, whose foliage, fretted on the skies, 
Prints shadowy arches on their evening dyes. 
O. W. Holmes, Poetry. 
fret 4 t, " * [< ME. fretten, < OF. fretter, freter, 
ferter, strengthen, fasten, provide.] 1. To fas- 
ten; bind. 
Take thenne & frette hym [a staff e of hasy 1 1, wylowe or 
aspe] faste wyth a cockshotecorde ; and bynde hym to a 
fourine or an euyn square grete tree. . . . Unfrette hym 
thene, and let hym drye in an nous roof in the smoke. 
Juliana Berners, Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, 
[fol. 3. 
2. To strengthen ; fill. 
With alle the fode that may be founde/ree thy cofer, 
For sustnauuce to yow-self & also those other. 
Alliterati.ee Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 339. 
fret 5 (fret), n. [Origin uncertain ; perhaps, as 
Skeat suggests, a particular use of OF. frete, a 
ferrule (a bar) : see fret 3 , .] In musical in- 
struments of the lute and viol class, a small 
ridge of wood, ivory, metal, or other material, 
set across the finger-board, and serving as a 
fixed point for stopping or shortening the strings 
in playing, the fingers being applied just above 
it so as to press the string against it. Frets were 
originally used on all varieties of the lute and the viol ; 
but they are now employed only in the guitar and zither 
and sometimes in the banjo. 
The Towne Musitlans 
Finger their frets within. 
Heywood, Woman Killed with Kindness. 
These means, us frets upon an instrument, 
Shall tune our heart-strings to true languishment. 
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1140. 
fret 5 (fret), '. t. ; pret. and -pp. fretted, ppr. fret- 
ting. [</re(5, .] 1. To provide with frets. 
2376 
The kindred souls of every land 
(Howe'er divided in the fretful days 
Of prejudice and errour) mingled now 
In one selected never jarring state. 
I'humxon, Memory of Lord Talbot. 
The new-born infant's fretful wail. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 
Instruments may be well made and well strung, but if 
they be not well/retted, the Musique is marred. 
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 40. 
2f. Punningly, in Shakspere, to worry as if by 
acting upon the frets of. 
Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret 
me, you cannot play upon me. Shalt., Hamlet, iii. 2. 
fret e t (fret), . [< L. fretam, a strait, a sound; 
not connected with frith 1 * = firth?.] A frith. 
[Rare.] 
It [Enripus] generally signifleth any strait,/re, or chan- 
nel of the sea, running between two shores. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err.,vii. 13. 
An island parted from the flrme land with a little fret 
of the sea. Knolles, Hist. Turks. 
fret't, P- a- [A form of freight, found in 16th- 
century editions of Chaucer, but not in ME. 
manuscripts.] Same as freight. 
fretet, v. A Middle English iform offrefl. 
fretful (fret'ful), a. [< freft, n., + -ful.'] If. 
Gnawing; wearing; abrading; corroding. 
Though parting be & fretful corsive, 
It is applied to a deathful wound. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 
2. In a state of commotion ; moved or agitated, 
as water; seething. 
Two goodly streames in one small channel meet, 
Whose fret/all waves, beating against the hill, 
Did all the bottome with soft mutt'rings fill. 
If. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 4. 
3. Disposed to fret ; ill-tempered; ill-humored; 
peevish: as, a fretful temper. 
Each particular hair to stand on end, 
Like quills upon the/re(/( porpentine. 
Shak., Hamlet, i. 5. 
A fretful poor soul, that has a new distress for every 
hour in the four-and-twenty. 
Goldxmith, Good-natured Man, i. 
4. Characterized by, indicating, or causing fret, 
worry, or ill temper. 
395. 
= Syn. 3. Peevish, Pettish, etc. (see petulant); irritable, 
complaining, querulous. 
fretfully (fret'ful-i), adc. In a fretful man- 
ner; peevishly; complainingly. 
fretfulness (fret'ful-nes), . The state or char- 
acter of being fretful ; peevishness; ill humor; 
disposition to fret and complain ; irritability. 
Fretfulnegs of temper, too, will generally characterise 
those who are negligent of order. II. Blair, Works, II. i. 
fretiset, v. t. [<frefi + -ise.~] Same as/re<3. 
Again, if it be in a great hall, then (beholding) of the 
fair embowed or vawted roofs, or of the fretised seelings 
curiously wrought and sumptuously set forth. 
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 38. 
fret-saw (fret'sa), . 1. A compass- or key- 
hole-saw with a long and slender blade and fine 
teeth. 2. A reciprocating scroll-saw mounted 
on a table and operated by a treadle. See scroll- 
saw. 
frettage (fret'aj), TO. [< F. frettage, < fretter, 
hoop, <. frette, a .hoop: see/rette.] 1. The pro- 
cess of reinforcing the breech-section of a heavy 
gun by shrinking on coiled rings of wrought- 
iron or steel. 2. The series of solid hoops or 
bands of steel thus used. See/rette. 
The gun . . . ordinarily receives an exterior frettage. 
Report of Chief of Ordnance, 1882, p. 244. 
frettation (fre-ta'shon), n. [Irreg. < frefl- + 
-ation.] Annoyance; discomposure. Dames. 
[Rare.] 
I never knew how much in earnest and in sincerity she 
was my friend till she heard of my infinite frettation upon 
occasion of being pamphleted. 
Ume. D'Arblay, Diary, I. 144. 
frette (fret), n. [F., a hoop: see frets.'] j n 
gun. : (a) A coiled ring of wrought-iron or 
steel designed for strengthening the exterior 
of cannon. The term is applied to hoops of steel rolled 
from the solid ingot, as well as to those made by coiling 
a bar around a mandrel, heating, and then welding the 
coils together under a hammer. (J) Any hoop or 
band for a built-up cannon. The interior diameter 
of the frette is less than the diameter of the body of the 
gun or tube on which it is to be placed. It is expanded 
by heat, placed in position, and allowed to cool until it 
grips the metal beneath, after which the cooling is has- 
tened by the careful application of water upon the exte- 
rior. 
frett6 (fre-ta'), a. In her., same as fretty, 2. 
fretted (fret'ed), p. a. [Pp. of fr'eft, i>.] 1. 
Adorned with frets or fretwork; exhibiting 
sunk or raised ornamentation in rectangular 
forms; having many intersecting groins or 
ribs. 
Yet then no proud aspiring piles were rais'd, 
No fretted roofs with polish 'd metals blaz'd. 
Pope, tr. of Statius's Thebaid, i. 
Adown the Tigris I was borne, 
By Bagdat's shrines of fretted gold. 
Tennyson, Arabian Nights. 
2. In her., interlaced one with another: said 
of any charges which can be so combined : as, 
a chevron fretted with a bar Fret fretted See 
frets, n . 
fretten 1 ! (fret'n), a. [< ME. freten, < AS. fre- 
ten, pp. of frctan, eat, eat into: see /re<l.] 
Marked: as, pock-/rette (marked with the 
smallpox). 
fretten 2 (fret'n), a. [Var. of fretted.] In her., 
same as fretted. [Rare.] 
fretter (fret'er), n. One who orthat which frets. 
A hot day, a hot day, vengeance, a hot day, boys ; 
Give me some drink, this fire's a plaguy fretter. 
Fletcher (and others), Bloody Brother, ii. 2. 
fretty (fret'i), a. [< OF. (and F.) frette, pp. 
of fretter, fret: see fret 3 , v.~] 1. Adorned with 
fretwork. 
But, Oxford, O I praise thy situation, . . . 
Thy bough-deckt dainty walkes, with brooks beset, 
Fretty, like Christall knots, in mould of jet. 
Dames, Sonnet to Oxford Univ. 
2. In her., covered with a grating composed of 
narrow pieces, as bendlets, fillets, etc., cross- 
ing one another and interlacing. Also/rette". 
fretwork (fret'werk), TO. Ornamental work con- 
sisting of a series or combination of frets ; or- 
namental work with interlacing parts; espe- 
cially, work in which the design is formed by 
perforation. 
The glimmering fretwork of sunshine and leaf -shadow. 
Lonr/fellow, Hyperion, iv. 5. 
The leader of the herd 
That holds a stately fretwork to the Sun, 
And follow'd up by a hundred airy does. 
Tennyson, Princess, vi. 
friar-bird 
freuch (fruch), a. [Sc., also written frewch, 
frooch, frough ; = E. dial. Trough, f row : see 
/roii^.] Easily broken ; brittle; frail as with 
rottenness, as wood. 
The swingle-trees flew in flinders, as gin they had been 
lafi-eugh as kailcastacks [kail-stems]. 
A Journal from London to Portsmouth, p. 5. 
Frey (fri), n. [Icel. Freyr.~] In Norse myth., the 
god of the earth's fruitfulness, presiding over 
rain, sunshine, and all the fruits of the earth, 
and dispensing wealth among men ; the son of 
Njord. He was especially worshiped in the 
temple at Upsala in Sweden. 
Freya (fri'a), . [Icel. Freyja."] InNorsemytli., 
the daughter of Njord and sister of Frey. She 
is the goddess of sexual love, the Scandinavian 
Venus. 
freyalite (fri'a-lit), . [< Freya, q. v., + -lite.'] 
A hydrous silicate of thorium and the cerium 
metals, from Norway: perhaps derived from 
the alteration of thorite. 
Freycinetia (fra-si-ne'shi-a), n. [NL., named 
after Louis Claude de Saulses de Freycinet, a 
French naval officer and explorer (1779-1842).] 
A genus of frutescent or climbing plants, of 
the natural order Pa-ndanacece, of which there 
are about 30 species in southeastern Asia, Aus- 
tralia, and the adjacent islands. Some species 
are occasionally found in greenhouses. 
friability (fri-a-bil'i.-ti), n. [= F. friabilite = 
Sp.friabilidad= Pg.friabiUda.de = It.friabilitd ; 
as friable + -Ity : see -bility.'] The quality of 
being friable, or easily broken, crumbled, or re- 
duced to powder. 
friable (fri'a-bl), a. [= F. friable = Sp. fria- 
ble = Pg.friavel = It. friabile, < L. friabilis, 
easily crumbled or broken, <friare, rub, crum- 
ble.] Easily crumbled or pulverized; easily 
reduced to powder, as pumice. 
A light friable ground, or moist gravel. 
Evelyn, Sylva, Of the Chess-nut. 
For the liver, of all the viscera, is the most friable and 
easily crumbled or dissolved. -Arbuthnot, On Diet, iii. 
The pollen-masses are extremely friable, so that large 
portions can easily be broken off. 
Darwin, Fertil. of Orchids by Insects, p. 96. 
friableness (fri'a-bl-nes), n. Friability. 
friar (fri'ar), n. " [Early mod. E. also/rier; < 
ME. frere, < OF. frere, /rare, F. frere = Pr. 
fraire, frar, frai = Sp. fraile, fray = Pg. frei 
= It. frate, fra, brother, monk, friar, < L. /ra- 
ter, brother, ML. a monk, friar, etc., = E. bro- 
ther: see brother, frater, fraternal, etc. For 
the form, cf. brier, briar, < ME. ftrere.] 1. In 
the Bom. Cath. Ch., a member of one of the 
m endicant monastic orders. The lour orders whose 
members are chiefly known as friars are the Franciscans 
(Friars Minor or Gray Friars), Dominicans (Friars Ma- 
jor, Friars Preachers, or Black Friars), Carmelites (White 
Friars), and Augustinians (Austin Friars). The members 
of some minor orders are also so called, as the Minims 
aud Servites. 
Holy writ bit men be war and wisliche hem kepe, 
That uo false frere thorw llatrynge hem by -gyle. 
Piers Plowman (C), xvl. 77. 
It was the friar of orders gray, 
As he forth walked on his way. 
Shak., T. of the S., iv. 1 (song). 
2. [In allusion to Gray or White Friar.'] In 
printing, a gray or indistinct spot or patch in 
print, usually made by imperfect inking: dis- 
tinguished from monk. 
The print will be too pale or grey in places, such imper- 
fections being called friars. Encyc. Brit., XXIII. 705. 
3. An Irish name of the angler, Lophius pisca- 
torius. 4. A fish of the family Atherinida;. 
5. The friar-bird or leatherhead. See friar- 
bird. Begging friars. See mendicant orders, under 
mendicant. Crutched, crouched, or crossed friars 
(ML. Cruciati), a minor order of friars, the canons regular 
of the Holy Cross, so named on accountof an embroidered 
cross which they wore on their garments. Friars' bal- 
sam, an alcoholic solution of benzoin, styrax, tolu balsam, 
and aloes, used as a stimulating application for wounds 
and ulcers. It is equivalent to the tincture of benzoin com- 
pound of the United States and British pharmacopoeias. 
Friar's chicken, chicken-broth with eggs dropped in 
it, or eggs beaten and mixed with it. Also called fried- 
chicken. [Scotch. ] 
My lady-in-waiting . . . shall make soraz friar's chicken, 
or something very light. I would not advise wine. 
Scott, Old Mortality, xxiv. 
Gray friar. See Franciscan. Preaching friar. See 
black-friar and Dominican. White friar, (a) A Car- 
melite. (6) A small flake of light-colored sediment float- 
ing in wine. 
If the cork be musty, or white friars in your liquor, your 
master will save the more. 
Swift, Directions to Servants, 1. 
friar-bird (fri'ar-berd), n. The leatherhead 
or four-o'clock, Tropidorhynchus corniculatus, 
