What is "freak"

Freak \Freak\, v. t. 1. to cause (a person) react with great distress or extreme emotion; -- often used in the phrase

freak out.

Freak \Freak\, v. i.

1. to react with irrationality or extreme emotion; to lose one's composure; -- often used in the phrase

   freak out.

2. to become irrational or to experience hallucinations under the influence of drugs; -- often used in the phrase

   freak out.

Freak \Freak\ (fr[=e]k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Freaked (fr[=e]kt); p. pr. & vb. n. Freaking.] [Akin to OE. frakin, freken, freckle, Icel. freknur, pl., Sw. fr["a]kne, Dan. fregne, Gr. perkno`s dark-colored, Skr. p[.r][,c]ni variegated. Cf. Freckle, Freck.] To variegate; to checker; to streak. [R.]

Freaked with many a mingled hue.
--Thomson.

Freak \Freak\, n. [Prob. from OE. frek bold, AS. frec bold, greedly; akin to OHG. freh greedly, G. frech insolent, Icel. frekr greedy, Goth. fa['i]hufriks avaricious.]

1. A sudden causeless change or turn of the mind; a whim of fancy; a capricious prank; a vagary or caprice.

   She is restless and peevish, and sometimes in a freak will instantly change her habitation.
   --Spectator.

2. a rare and unpredictable event; as, the July snowstorm was a freak of nature.

3. an habitual drug user, especially one who uses psychedelic drugs.

4. an animal or person with a visible congenital abnormality; -- applied especially to those who appear in a circus sideshow.

   Syn: Whim; caprice; folly; sport. See Whim.

1560s, "sudden and apparently causeless turn of mind," of unknown origin. Perhaps it is from a dialectal survival of a word related to Middle English friken "to move nimbly or briskly," from Old English frician "to dance" [OED, Barnhart]. There is a freking attested in mid-15c., apparently meaning "capricious behavior, whims." Or perhaps from Middle English frek "eager, zealous, bold, brave, fierce" (see freak (n.2)).\n

\nSense of "capricious notion" (1560s) and "unusual thing, fancy" (1784) preceded that of "abnormally developed individual or production" (first in freak of nature, 1839, which was later popular in variety show advertisements for bearded ladies, albinos, etc.; compare Latin lusus naturæ, which was used in English from 1660s). As "drug user," attested from 1945. The sense in health freak, ecology freak, etc. is attested from 1908 (originally Kodak freak, a camera buff). Freak show attested from 1887.

"change, distort," 1911, from freak (n.1). Earlier, "to streak or fleck randomly" (1630s). Related: Freaked; freaking.

"brave man, warrior," Scottish freik, from Middle English freke "a bold man, a warrior, a man," from Old English freca "bold man, a warrior," from frec "greedy, eager, bold" (compare German frech "bold, impudent").

Etymology 1 n. 1 A man, particularly a bold, strong, vigorous man. 2 (context UK dialectal Scotland English) A fellow; a petulant, young man. Etymology 2

1. strange, weird n. 1 A sudden causeless change or turn of the mind; a whim of fancy; a capricious prank; a vagary or caprice. 2 Someone or something that is markedly unusual. 3 A hippie. v

2. 1 (context transitive English) To make greatly distressed and/or a discomposed appearance 2 (context transitive English) To be placed or place someone under the influence of a psychedelic drug 3 (context transitive English) To streak; to variegate 4 (context intransitive English) To experience reality withdrawal, or hallucinations (nightmarish), to behave irrational or unconventional due to drug use. 5 (context intransitive English) To react extremely or irrationally, usually under distress or discomposure

1. n. a person or animal that is markedly unusual or deformed [syn: monster, monstrosity, lusus naturae]

2. someone who is so ardently devoted to something that it resembles an addiction; "a golf addict"; "a car nut"; "a news junkie" [syn: addict, nut, junkie, junky]

v. lose one's nerve; "When he saw the accident, he freaked out" [syn: freak out, gross out]

FREAK ("Factoring RSA Export Keys") is a security exploit of a cryptographic weakness in the SSL/TLS protocols introduced decades earlier for compliance with U.S. cryptography export regulations. These involved limiting exportable software to use only public key pairs with RSA moduli of 512 bits or less (so-called RSA_EXPORT keys), with the intention of allowing them to be broken easily by the NSA, but not by other organizations with lesser computing resources. However, by the early 2010s, increases in computing power meant that they could be broken by anyone with access to relatively modest computing resources using the well-known Number Field Sieve algorithm, using as little as $100 of cloud computing services. Combined with the ability of a man-in-the-middle to manipulate the initial cipher suite negotiation between the endpoints in the connection and the fact that the Finished hash only depended on the master secret, this meant that a man-in-the-middle, with only a modest amount of computation could break the security of any website that allowed the use of 512-bit export-grade keys. While the exploit was only discovered in 2015, its underlying vulnerabilities had been present for many years, dating back to the 1990s.

A freak is a person with something extraordinary about his or her appearance or behaviour.

Freak or freaks may also refer to:

"Freak" is a 1997 song by Silverchair, released as the first single from their second album Freak Show.

The song reached number 1 in the Australian charts; it was the second single by Silverchair to do so, after " Tomorrow" in 1994. The band would not have another number 1 hit until " Straight Lines" in 2007.

One of the B-sides of the single is a cover of "New Race" by Australian band Radio Birdman.

Freak is a 1998 film directed by Spike Lee. The film is a live performance of John Leguizamo's one man show on Broadway of the same name. Leguizamo's show was semi- autobiographical as he would talk about many aspects of his life. In the performance piece, he also talks about family members such as his parents, grandparents, uncle, and his younger brother. The film premiered on HBO.

The show was a commercial and critical success and garnered Leguizamo and members of the production crew several awards and nominations. The making of this film prompted Lee to cast Leguizamo in the lead role of his next film the following year, Summer of Sam. Leguizamo followed this performance up with the Broadway show Sexaholix: A Love Story in 2001.

Freak was a one-man show, written and performed by actor/comedian John Leguizamo. The play debuted at Cort Theater on Broadway in 1998 and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show.

There is no linear plot to the play, but over the course of the performance, Leguizamo traces his life from the very beginning (as a sperm cell) to the beginning of his career in show business. During the course of the play, Leguizamo portrays dozens of different characters, including friends, relatives and neighbors that he knew while growing up in Queens, New York. Leguizamo plays characters of both genders and of many different ethnicities, sometimes engaging in multi-character dialogues all by himself.

The show garnered Leguizamo and members of the production crew with several awards and nominations.1

A filmed performance was directed by Spike Lee aired on HBO under the same name. Leguizamo followed this performance up with the Broadway show Sexaholix: A Love Story in 2001 which also aired on HBO.

Freak is the name of three fictional characters in the Marvel Universe. Most villains known as Freak are associated with Iron Man, while the most recent version appears in The Amazing Spider-Man.

Freak, in comics, may refer to:

• A member of DC Comic's Doom Patrol
• Freak (Image Comics), an enemy of Spawn
• Freak (Marvel Comics), the name of three Marvel Comics characters

The Freak is a fictional character and Supervillain featured in the Spawn comic book series. Also known as Mr. Kulbiczi, he is a psychopath whose mental illness and delirium was the result of his ex-wife telling him she didn't want children. He was committed to an asylum but later built himself a mansion in the sewers.

Freak is a television teen drama format created and produced by production company FMX (part of the FremantleMedia group). The series, which was described as an "edgy, teenage coming-of-age story", featured a cast of fresh, young actors and invited the audience to be part of the creative process by choosing the music, becoming a member of the cast and helping to shape the storyline. The first series was sponsored by Red Bull and Procter & Gamble and was launched on July 20, 2009.

The format was created by Josie Ward.

"Freak" is a single by English musician Estelle. The song, which features Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall, was produced by French DJ David Guetta. It contains an interpolation of " Back to Life" by music group Soul II Soul in the chorus. "Freak" was featured on the soundtrack to Step Up 3D and the reissue of David Guetta's album One Love, entitled One More Love.

The single was released in North America on 26 February 2010, and in the UK on 3 May 2010 as a buzz single after the song failed to chart in the Top 100. The song was released as her third international single, after " American Boy" and " Come Over" and received positive reaction from most music critics. The song was used as one of the songs of the São Paulo Fashion Week 2010, during the parade of Colcci and in the movie Step Up 3D in 2010. "Freak" was due to be released as the first single from her third studio album All of Me but was instead included as a US bonus track.

"Freak" (also titled as "Freak U.S.A.") is the first single from The Smashing Pumpkins's eighth album, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, and the first song released for the second accompanying EP The Solstice Bare. Like all other songs on the album, "Freak" was released as a free download on their official website. The song was first played live on July 24, 2009, at the first Spirits in the Sky show in memoriam of Sky Saxon. It was performed live by the Pumpkins throughout their 2010 tours.

Freak is the debut single by the English rock singer-songwriter and bass guitarist Bruce Foxton, which became a hit and one of his most recognizable songs. It was originally released in 1983, as the lead single from his debut album, " Touch Sensitive". It was inspired strongly by the 1980 biographical film The Elephant Man, with the single's cover even referencing the film's posters.

It was one of four tracks from the album that were produced by the multiple-award winning Steve Lillywhite. The song is notably Foxton's only single to make the Top 40 in the United Kingdom, peaking at 23, for a total of five weeks.

"Freak" is a song recorded by American singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey for her album Honeymoon (2015). It was written by Del Rey and Rick Nowels. It was released as the third single from the album on February 9, 2016.