n. [ Cf. It. affrettare to hasten, fretta haste. ] A furious onset or attack. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Chamfron. ] 1. (Carp.) A small gutter; a furrow; a groove. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A chamfer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Obs. ] See 1st Frith. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Fretted; p. pr. & vb. n. Fretting. ] [ OE. freten to eat, consume; AS. fretan, for foretan; pref. for- + etan to eat; akin to D. vreten, OHG. frezzan, G. fressen, Sw. fräta, Goth. fra-itan. See For, and Eat, v. t. ] 1. To devour. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The sow frete the child right in the cradle. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To rub; to wear away by friction; to chafe; to gall; hence, to eat away; to gnaw; as, to fret cloth; to fret a piece of gold or other metal; a worm frets the plants of a ship. [ 1913 Webster ]

With many a curve my banks I fret. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To impair; to wear away; to diminish. [ 1913 Webster ]

By starts
His fretted fortunes give him hope and fear. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To make rough, agitate, or disturb; to cause to ripple; as, to fret the surface of water. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To tease; to irritate; to vex. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fret not thyself because of evil doers. Ps. xxxvii. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To be worn away; to chafe; to fray; as, a wristband frets on the edges. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To eat in; to make way by corrosion. [ 1913 Webster ]

Many wheals arose, and fretted one into another with great excoriation. Wiseman. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To be agitated; to be in violent commotion; to rankle; as, rancor frets in the malignant breast. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To be vexed; to be chafed or irritated; to be angry; to utter peevish expressions. [ 1913 Webster ]

He frets, he fumes, he stares, he stamps the ground. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Agitation of mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation; as, he keeps his mind in a continual fret. [ 1913 Webster ]

Yet then did Dennis rave in furious fret. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Herpes; tetter. Dunglison. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. pl. (Mining) The worn sides of river banks, where ores, or stones containing them, accumulate by being washed down from the hills, and thus indicate to the miners the locality of the veins. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ OE. fretten to adorn, AS. frætwan, frætwian; akin to OS. fratahōn, cf. Goth. us-fratwjan to make wise, also AS. frætwe ornaments, OS. fratahī adornment. ] To ornament with raised work; to variegate; to diversify. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whose skirt with gold was fretted all about. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Yon gray lines,
That fret the clouds, are messengers of day. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Ornamental work in relief, as carving or embossing. See Fretwork. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Arch.) An ornament consisting of small fillets or slats intersecting each other or bent at right angles, as in classical designs, or at oblique angles, as often in Oriental art. [ 1913 Webster ]

His lady's cabinet is a adorned on the fret, ceiling, and chimney-piece with . . . carving. Evelyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The reticulated headdress or net, made of gold or silver wire, in which ladies in the Middle Ages confined their hair. [ 1913 Webster ]

A fret of gold she had next her hair. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fret saw, a saw with a long, narrow blade, used in cutting frets, scrolls, etc.; a scroll saw; a keyhole saw; a compass saw. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. frette a saltire, also a hoop, ferrule, prob. a dim. of L. ferrum iron. For sense 2, cf. also E. fret to rub. ] 1. (Her.) A saltire interlaced with a mascle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mus.) A short piece of wire, or other material fixed across the finger board of a guitar or a similar instrument, to indicate where the finger is to be placed. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To furnish with frets, as an instrument of music. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See 2d Fret. ] Disposed to fret; ill-humored; peevish; angry; in a state of vexation; as, a fretful temper. -- Fret"ful*ly, adv. -- Fret"ful*ness, n.

Syn. -- Peevish; ill-humored; ill-natured; irritable; waspish; captious; petulant; splenetic; spleeny; passionate; angry. -- Fretful, Peevish, Cross. These words all indicate an unamiable working and expression of temper. Peevish marks more especially the inward spirit: a peevish man is always ready to find fault. Fretful points rather to the outward act, and marks a complaining impatience: sickly children are apt to be fretful. Crossness is peevishness mingled with vexation or anger. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A narrow-bladed fine-toothed saw for cutting curved outlines.
Syn. -- jigsaw, scroll saw. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ See 2d Fret. ] (Mining) The worn side of the bank of a river. See 4th Fret, n., 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Frit. ] A vitreous compound, used by potters in glazing, consisting of lime, silica, borax, lead, and soda. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. & a. [ From 2d Fret. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Rubbed or worn away; chafed. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Agitated; vexed; worried. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. & a. [ See 5th Fret. ] 1. Ornamented with fretwork; furnished with frets; variegated; made rough on the surface. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Her.) Interlaced one with another; -- said of charges and ordinaries. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ The old p. p. of fret to rub. ] Rubbed; marked; as, pock-fretten, marked with the smallpox. [ Obs. ] Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, frets. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See 5th Fret. ] Adorned with fretwork. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Freta [ L. ] A strait, or arm of the sea. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ 6th fret + work. ] Work adorned with frets; ornamental openwork or work in relief, esp. when elaborate and minute in its parts. Hence, any minute play of light and shade, dark and light, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

Banqueting on the turf in the fretwork of shade and sunshine. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Her.) Interlaced; linked together; -- said of charges or bearings. See Fretted. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. See Pockmarked. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Perhaps corrupt. fr. Pg. pampano a kind of fish. ] (Zool.) (a) One of two or more species of marine food fishes of the genus Stromateus (Stromateus niger, Stromateus argenteus) native of Southern Europe and Asia. (b) A marine food fish of Bermuda (Brama Raji). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. refret, L. refractus, p. p. See Refrain, n., Refract. ] Refrain. [ Obs. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. transfretatio. See Transfrete. ] The act of passing over a strait or narrow sea. [ Obs. ] Sir J. Davies. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ L. transfretare; trans across, over + fretum a strait: cf. OF. transfreter. ] To pass over a strait or narrow sea. [ Written also transfreight. ] [ Obs. ] E. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + fret. ] To smooth after being fretted. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]