Dictionary
fret
Pronunciation: (fret), [key]
—v., fret•ted, fret•ting,
—n.
—
v.i.
1. to feel or express worry, annoyance, discontent, or the like:
Fretting about the lost ring isn't going to help.
2. to cause corrosion; gnaw into something:
acids that fret at the strongest metals.
3. to make a way by gnawing, corrosion, wearing away, etc.:
The river frets at its banks until a new channel is formed.
4. to become eaten, worn, or corroded (often fol. by
away):
Limestone slowly frets away under pounding by the wind and rain.
5. to move in agitation or commotion, as water:
water fretting over the stones of a brook.
—
v.t.
1. to torment; irritate, annoy, or vex:
You mustn't fret yourself about that.
2. to wear away or consume by gnawing, friction, rust, corrosives, etc.:
the ocean fretting its shores.
3. to form or make by wearing away a substance:
The river had fretted an underground passage.
4. to agitate (water):
Strong winds were fretting the channel.
—
n.
1. an irritated state of mind; annoyance; vexation.
2. erosion; corrosion; gnawing.
3. a worn or eroded place.
fret
Pronunciation: (fret), [key]
—n., v., fret•ted, fret•ting.
—
n.
1. an interlaced, angular design; fretwork.
2. an angular design of bands within a border.
3. Heraldry.a charge composed of two diagonal strips interlacing with and crossing at the center of a mascle.
4. a piece of decoratively pierced work placed in a clock case to deaden the sound of the mechanism.
—
v.t.
to ornament with a fret or fretwork.
fret
Pronunciation: (fret), [key]
—n., v., fret•ted, fret•ting.
—
n.
any of the ridges of wood, metal, or string, set across the fingerboard of a guitar, lute, or similar instrument, which help the fingers to stop the strings at the correct points.
—
v.t.
to provide with frets.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
