Fret Definition

frĕt
frets, fretted, fretting
verb
frets, fretted, fretting
To wear away by gnawing, rubbing, corroding, etc.
Webster's New World
To become eaten, corroded, worn, frayed, etc.
Webster's New World
To gnaw (into, on, or upon)
Webster's New World
To be irritated, annoyed, or querulous; worry.
Webster's New World
To make or form by wearing away.
Webster's New World
noun
frets
A wearing away.
Webster's New World
The act or an instance of fretting.
American Heritage
A hole or worn spot made by abrasion or erosion.
American Heritage
A worn place.
Webster's New World
Irritation; worry.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
abbreviation
(physics) Förster resonance energy transfer.
Wiktionary

(physics) Fluorescence resonance energy transfer, which is a type of the Förster phenomenon where one or both of the partners in the energy transfer are fluorescent chromophores.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Fret

Noun

Singular:
fret
Plural:
frets

Origin of Fret

  • From Middle English freten, from Old English fretan (“to eat up, devour”), from Proto-Germanic *fraetaną (“to devour”), corresponding to for- +‎ eat. Cognate with Dutch vreten, fretten (“to devour, hog, wolf”), Low German freten (“to eat up”), German fressen (“to devour, gobble up, guzzle”), Danish fråse (“to gorge”), Swedish fräta (“to eat away, corrode, fret”), Gothic (fraitan), - (fra-itan, “to devour”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English < Old French, from the verb freter, probably from the Latin frictō, frequentive of fricō (“I rub”). See friction.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English freten from Old English fretan to devour ed- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English interlaced work from Old French frete

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Latin fretum (“strait, channel”)

    From Wiktionary

  • Origin unknown

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Unknown

    From Wiktionary

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