FRET, verb transitive [Latin 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.]
1. To rub; to wear away a substance by friction; as, to fret cloth; to fret a piece of gold or other metal.
2. To corrode; to gnaw; to ear away; as, a worm frets the planks of a ship.
3. To impair; to wear away.
By starts, his fretted fortunes give him hope and fear.
4. To form into raised work.
5. To variegate; to diversify.
Yon gray lines that fret the clouds are messengers of day.
6. To agitate violently.
7. To agitate; to disturb; to make rough; to cause to ripple; as, to fret the surface of water.
8. To tease; to irritate; to vex; to make angry.
FRET not thyself because of evil doers. Psalms 37:1.
9. To wear away; to chafe; to gall. Let not a saddle or harness fret the skin of your horse.
FRET, verb intransitive
1. To be worn away; to be corroded. Any substance will in time fret away by friction.
2. To eat or wear in; to make way of attrition or corrosion.
Many wheels arose, and fretted one into another with great excoriation.
3. To be agitated; to be in violent commotion; as the rancor that 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.
FRET, noun
1. The agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water; small undulations continually repeated.
2. Work raised in protuberances; or a kind of knot consisting of two lists or small fillets interlaced, used as an ornament in architecture.
3. Agitation of mind; commotion of temper; irritation; as, he keeps his mind in a continual fret
Yet then did Dennis rave in furious fret
4. A short piece of wire fixed on the fingerboard of a guitar, etc., which being pressed against the strings varies the tone.
5. In heraldry, a bearing composed of bars crossed and interlaced.
FRET, verb transitive To furnish with frets, as an instrument of music.
FRET, noun [Latin fretum.] A frith, which see.