FRET, v.t. [L. 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. Ps. 38.9. To wear away; to chafe; to gall. Let not a saddle or harness fret the skin of your horse.FRET, v.i. 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, n. 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, &c., which being pressed against the strings varies the tone.5. In heraldry, a bearing composed of bars crossed and interlaced.FRET, v.t. To furnish with frets, as an instrument of music. FRET, n. [L. fretum.] A frith, which see.
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