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.
With many a curve my banks I fret.
Tennyson. 3. To impair; to wear away; to diminish.
By starts
His fretted fortunes give him hope and fear.
Shak. 4. To make rough, agitate, or disturb; to cause to ripple; as, to fret the surface of water.
5. To tease; to irritate; to vex.
Fret not thyself because of evil doers.
Ps. xxxvii. 1. Fret
(Fret), v. i.
1. To be worn away; to chafe; to fray; as, a wristband frets on the edges.
2. To eat in; to make way by corrosion.
Many wheals arose, and fretted one into another with great excoriation.
Wiseman. 3. To be agitated; to be in violent commotion; to rankle; as, rancor frets in the malignant breast.
4. 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.
Dryden. Fret
(Fret), n.
1. The agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
Addison.
2. Agitation of mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation; as, he keeps
his mind in a continual fret.
Yet then did Dennis rave in furious fret.
Pope. 3. Herpes; tetter. Dunglison.
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.
Fret
(Fret), v. t. [OE. fretten to adorn, AS. frætwan, frætwian; akin to OS. fratahon, cf. Goth. us-fratwjan
to make wise, also AS. frætwe ornaments, OS. fratahi adornment.] To ornament with raised work; to
variegate; to diversify.
Whose skirt with gold was fretted all about.
Spenser.
Yon gray lines,
That fret the clouds, are messengers of day.
Shak. Fret
(Fret), n.
1. Ornamental work in relief, as carving or embossing. See Fretwork.
