frith 
forest, = Gaol, fritti, a forest, prop, of deer, are 
taken from ME. frith.} 1. Peace; security; 
freedom from molestation. In modern use only 
with reference to Anglo-Saxon law, in which the essential 
ideas indicated by the word were : (a) The right to be in 
peace as secured by penal sanctions. To be within the 
frith or peace was to be within the domain of law, within 
the protection of the established authorities. 
Pax vobis, frith, for that he ben thanne fried [freed] of 
the develes thralsipe [thraldom], 
Old JSng. Homilies (ed. Morris), II. 103. 
- Older than "the peace of the folk." far older than "the 
King's peace," which was to succeed it, was the frith or 
peace of the freeman himself the right that each man 
had to secure for himself safe life and sound limb. 
J. R. Green, Conq. of Eng., p. 21. 
(6) A treaty or agreement of peace made between two con- 
tending kingdoms or districts. 
2f. A piece of land inclosed for the preserva- 
tion of game ; a park or forest for game ; hence, 
a forest or woody place in general ; a hedge ; 
a coppice. 
Ye huntieth i the kinges/rit/ie [var. pare]. 
Layainon, I. 61. 
Gret joye is in frith and lake. 
Richard Coer de Lion, 1. 3787. 
Thanne shal Feith be forester here and in this frith walke. 
Piers Plowman (B), xvii. 112. 
The sylvans that about the neighbouring woods did dwell, 
Both in the tufty frith and iu the mossy fell, 
Forsook their gloomy bow'rs and wand'red far abroad. 
Drayton, l j olyolbion, xvii. 388. 
3f. A small field taken out of a common. 
4. Ground overgrown with bushes or under- 
wood ; a field which has been taken from woods. 
Wright. [Prov. Eng.] 
frith'H, v. t. [ME. frithien, < AS. frithian, freo- 
thian, keep peace, make peace, protect, defend, 
= OS. frithon = OFries. frethia, ferdia = MLG. 
vriden = OHG. ge-fridon = Icel. fridha, make 
peace, = Sw. freda, cover, protect, quiet, in- 
close, fence in, = Dan. frede, protect, inclose, 
fence in, = Goth, ga-frithon, reconcile; from 
the noun.] 1. To protect; guard. 
He . . . gaf him . . . leue . . . 
To wune Egipte folc among, 
And frithen him wel fro euerilc wrong. 
Genesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), 1. 786. 
2. To inclose; fence in, as a forest or park. 
ff amide (fandV, see that] my fforestez be/rytliede o fren- 
chepe [in friendship] for evere, 
Thatnane werreye my wylde [wild, i. e., game]. 
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 656. 
frith 2 , firth 2 (frith, ferth), n. [The form frith 
is transposed from the earlier firth; < ME. firth, 
< Icel. fjordhr, pi. firdhir = Sw. fjard = Norw. 
Dan. fjord (whence in E. often fiord, fjord, 
q. v.), a frith, bay, ult. connected with E. ford, 
and with L. portus, a harbor: see ford and 
jporJ 1 .] 1. A narrow arm of the sea; an estu- 
ary ; the opening of a river into the sea : used 
specifically in Scotland only, where firth is the 
commoner form: as, the Firth of Forth; the 
Frith of Clyde. 
He makes his Boates with flat bottoms, fitted to the 
Shallows which he expected in that narrow frith. 
Milton, Hist. Eng., il. 
What desp'rate madman then would venture o'er 
The/ri(A, or haul his cables from the shore? 
Di-yden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, i. 
The friths that branch and spread 
Their sleeping silver thro' the hills. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Conclusion. 
2. A kind of weir for catching fish ; a kind of net. 
frithborg (frith ' borg), n. [AS. *frith-borh, 
"frith-borg, found only as used or quoted in the 
so-called Laws of Edward the Confessor (in 
Latin), namely, frithborg, frith-borch, ace. pi. 
frithborgas, and Latinized (nom.) frithborgus, 
where the editions of Lambard and Wilkins 
give (ace. pi.) freoborges, Latinized (nom.) fri- 
borgus; hence the form friborga in Fleta, and 
friborg, friburgh, frecborg in later writers. The 
proper AS. form is "fritliborh, (.frith, peace, + 
borli, a pledge (> E. borrow^, n.). Cf . frithsoJcen 
imA frank-pledge.} In Anglo-Saxon law, one of 
the tithings or groups of ten men into which 
the hundred was divided, the members of each 
one being held liable for the misdeeds of a fel- 
low-member. 
As touching the king's peace, every hundred was di- 
vided into many freeboras or tithings consisting of ten 
men, which stood all bound one for the other, and did 
amongst themselves punish small matters in their court 
for that purpose called the lete. 
Spelman, Anc. Government of England. 
But the name [of tithing] has been very commonly ap- 
plied both by historical writers and in legal custom to 
denote . . . the association of ten men in common re- 
sponsibility legally embodied in the frithborh or frank- 
pledge. Stubbs, Const. Hist, 41. 
frithgild (frith'gild), . [AS. frithgild, < frith, 
peace, + gild, a guild.] In Anglo-Saxon law, 
2384 
a union of neighbors pledged to one another by 
oath for the preservation of order and for self- 
defense, all being liable for the misdeeds of any 
member of the guild. On the decline of the kinsfolk 
organization in the tenth century, this became a common 
element in social order in England. 
Strong as the crown might he, its strength lay in the 
king's personal action, and it was far from possessing any 
adequate police or judicial machinery for carrying its will 
into effect. To supply such a machinery was the aim of 
Uw.frith-iiiMs. J. R. Green, Conq. of Eng., p. 210. 
frithsoken (frith'so"ken), n. [Also frittisocne, 
frithsocitjfrithsoca; WE.frithsocne, "franchise 
de franc plege" (Rel. Antiq., 1. 33), < AS. fritli- 
socn, lit. a peace-seeking, < frith, peace, + soon, 
a refuge, searching, a seeking: see frith 1 and 
soken, socaye.~\ 1. In Anglo-Saxon law, the fran- 
chise or governmental power of requiring the 
people to keep the peace ; the jurisdiction to 
punish for breaches of the peace. This power was 
profitable by reason of the fines and forfeitures resulting 
from its exercise ; consequently it was often conferred in 
the charters and royal grants of early English history, be- 
ginning in the later part of the Anglo-Saxon period, about 
the time of Edward the Confessor. (Seesoc.) The Normans, 
it is supposed, by confusing the Anglo-Saxon frith with 
fre, fri, modem free, adopted the term frank-pledge to 
designate the binding of persons to be pecuniarily re- 
sponsible for one another's peaceable conduct. 
Hence, in later times 2. The liberty of hav- 
ing a view of frank-pledge. See frank-pledge. 
frithsplot (frith'splot), n. [AS., occurring only 
once, < frith, peace, + splot, a spot (not the 
same as spot).] A plot of land encircling some 
stone, tree, or well, considered sacred, and 
therefore affording sanctuary to criminals. 
Wliarton. 
frithstool (frith'stol), n. [A mod. form, cor- 
ruptly fredstole, freedstool, repr. AS. frith-stol, 
an asylum, sanctuary, lit. stool of peace or pro- 
tection, < frith, peace, protection, + stol, a seat, 
chair, stool.] In Anglo-Saxon times, a seat or 
chair in a church, near the altar, to which per- 
sons fled who sought the privilege of sanctuary. 
Athelstan his son succeeded King Edward, being much 
devoted to St. John of Beverley, on whose church he be- 
stowed afreed-stool with large priviledges belonging there- 
unto. Fuller, Church Hist, II. v. 9. 
Such a privilege |the right of sanctuary or refuge for 
criminals] was given by allowing what was called the 
Frithstool to be set up in some part of the hallowed build- 
ing. This "stool of peace," for such is the meaning of 
the word, was a low-backed arm-chair, made of stone. 
Its standing-place was either near the high altar, or by 
the side of the patron saint's shrine. From this spot, as 
from a center, the frithstool spread its privilege of sanctu- 
ary over land and water all about the minster which held 
it, to the distance of at least a mile. 
Rock, Church of our Fathers, III. i. 365. 
frithyt (frith'i), a. [< frith*, 2, + -yV] Woody. 
Thus stode I in the frytthy forest of Galtres. 
Skelton, Garland of Laurel, 1. 22. 
Fritillaria (frit-i-la'ri-a), n. [NL., in allusion 
to the shape of its perianth, < L. fritillus, a dice- 
box.] 1. A genus 
of liliaceous bulbous 
plants, nearly allied 
to the lily. There are 
about 40 species, chiefly 
of the temperate parts 
of Europe and Asia, with 
8 species on the Pacific 
side of North America. 
They have leafy stems 
and large, drooping, 
bell-shaped flowers. The 
largest species, and the 
one best known in cul- 
tivation, is the crown- 
imperial, F. im^rialis. 
The guinea-hen flower or 
snake's-head, F. Melea- 
ffris, and some others are 
occasionally seen in gar- 
dens. 
2. In zool., a genus 
of copelate ascidi- 
ans,of the family Ap- 
pendicularii(la!. They 
have a tail half as long 
again as the body, a curved endostyle, and a hood-like 
fold of the integument. F. furcala and F. formica are ex- 
amples. 
fritillary (frit'i-la-ri), n. ; -pi. fritillaries (-riz). 
[< NL. Fritillaria."] 1. The popular name of 
plants of the genus Fritillaria. 
Crown-imperial 
(Fritillaria itnperialis}. 
Plucked no fire-hearted flowers, but were content 
Cool fritillaries and flag flowers to twine. 
The American, VIII. 90. 
2. The popular name of several species of Brit- 
ish butterflies. Araynnis paphia is the silver-washed 
fritillary of collectors ; A. aglaia is the dark-green fritil- 
lary ; A. adippe is the high-brown fritillary ; A. lattonia is 
the rare and much-prized queen-of-Spain fritillary ; and 
A. euphrosyne is the pearl-bordered fritillary. The greasy 
fritillary of collectors is Melitcea artemis. 
Silver-washed fritillaries flit round every bramble-bed. 
Kingsley, Two Years Ago, xxiii. 
frivolity 
fritinancyt (frit'i-nan-si), ti. [Irreg. < L. fri- 
timiirc, twitter, chirp, as a small bird, cicada, 
etc.] A chirping or croaking, as of a cricket. 
Sir T. Browne. 
fritt, fritte, n. See frit. 
fritter (frit'er), n. [< ME. fritoure, frytoirn, 
also fruyter, fruter (simulating/rjo'i), < OF. fri- 
titrc, a frying, a dish of fried fish ; ct.friteau, a 
fritter (Cotgrave), ML. fritellum, a fritter, < L. 
frictHS, fried, pp. offrigere, fry: see/ryl.] i. 
A small cake of batter, sometimes containing 
a slice of some fruit, clams or oysters either 
chopped or whole, or the like, sweetened or 
seasoned, fried in boiling lard, and served hot : 
as, apple/riMers; peach/raters; oyster fritters. 
Fruyter vaunte, fruyter say, be good ; better n fruyter 
pouche ; apple frtiyters ben good hote ; and all colde f ni- 
ters, touche not Jiabees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 273. 
The sacred and ceremonious feas.ts which we observe in 
memorial of our birth-days, and nativitie, standeth much 
upon f urmentie, gmell, fritters, and pancakes. 
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xviii. 8. 
2. A fragment ; a shred ; a small piece. 
Seese and putter? have I lived to stand at the taunts of 
one that makes fritters of English? 
Shak.,M. W. ofW., v. 6. 
And cut whole giants into/ritters. S. Butler, Hudibras. 
3. pi. Specifically, in whole-fishery, tendinous 
fibers of the whale's blubber, running in vari- 
ous directions, and connecting the cellular sub- 
stance which contains the oil. They are what re- 
mains after the oil has been tried out, and are used as 
fuel to try out the next whale. Hamersly. 
fritter (frit'er), t'. t [< fritter, n.} 1. To cut, 
as meat, into small pieces: also used figura- 
tively. 
What pretty things imagination 
Will./Htter out in adulation ! 
Lloyd, Poetry Professors. 
2. To break into small pieces or fragments; 
wear away, as by friction ; lose in small pieces 
or parts. 
Break all their nerves, and fritter all their sense. 
Pope, Dunciad, iv. 56. 
A gauJy silken robe, striped and intersected with un- 
friendly tints, that fritter the masses of light, and distract 
the vision. Goldsmith, Taste. 
Nothing is suffered to prevail upon its own principle ; 
the whole is so frittered down and disjointed that scarcely 
a trace of the original remains. 
Burke, Economical Reform. 
Undistingnish'd trifles swell the scene. 
The last new play and fritter'd magazine. 
Crabbe, Works, I. 144. 
To fritter away, to waste or expend by little and little ; 
waste by a little at a time ; spend frivolously or in trifles. 
We shall probably, in another century, be frittered away 
into beaux or monkeys. 
Goldsmith, Reverie at Boar's Head Tavern. 
The time and energy of both Houses have been frittered 
away by wearisome and prolonged enquiries for the con- 
duct of which the ordinary member of Parliament is un- 
fitted. Edinburgh Rev., CLXV. 287. 
fritting-furnace (frit'ing-fer"nas), TO. In glass- 
manuf., a form of reverberatory furnace in 
which the materials are fritted, or partially 
decomposed and fused, as a preliminary to fus- 
ing in the melting-pots. This process was es- 
sential when kelp was used in glass-making, 
but is now seldom practised, 
frivallt, a. See frivol. 
frivolt, a. [Also frivall; < ME. * frivol, frevol, 
frerel (=G. Dan. Sw. frivol), < OF. frivole, fre- 
vol, F. frivole = Pr. frevol, freol = Sp. frivolo 
= Pg. It. frivolo, < L. frivolus, silly, empty, tri- 
fling, worthless.] Frivolous. 
Stoping of the seruing of the said hreuez nor nain vther 
frewell exceptione, etc. 
Act. Dam. Cone. (1492), p. 246. (E. D.) 
I did (to shift him with some contentment) 
Make such & frivall promise. 
Chapman, All Fools, ii. 1. 
frivol (friv'ol), v. ; pret. and pp. frivoled, friv- 
olled, ppr. f rivaling, frivolling. [< frivol, a. In 
the colloq. use recent, assumed from frivolous.} 
I. trans. To make void ; annul ; set aside. Ja- 
mieson. [Scotch.] 
Gif thir jugis/ripote his appellacioun, and convict him. 
Bellenden, tr. of Livy, p. 45. 
II. intrans. To behave frivolously; indulge 
in gaiety or levity. [Colloq. and humorous.] 
frivolism (friv'o-lizm), . [< frivol + -ism.} 
Frivolity. Priestley. [Rare. ] 
frivolity (fri-vol'i-ti), n. ; pi. frivolities (-tiz). 
[= G. frivolitdt = Dan. Sw. frivolitet, < F. frivo- 
lite = Pr. frevoltat, freoltat Sp.frivolidad = 
Pg. frivolidade; as frivol + -%.] 1. The con- 
dition or quality of being frivolous or trifling; 
insignificance. 
The galleries of ancient sculpture in Naples and Rome 
strike no deeper conviction into the mind than the con- 
trast of the purity, the severity, expressed in these fine 
