What is "fret"

Fret \Fret\ (fr[e^]t), n. [Obs.] See 1st Frith.

Fret \Fret\ (fr[e^]t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fretted; p. pr. & vb. n. Fretting.] [OE. freten to eat, consume; AS. fretan, for foretan; pref. for- + etan to eat; akin to D. vreten, OHG. frezzan, G. fressen, Sw. fr["a]ta, Goth. fra-itan. See For, and Eat, v. t.]

1. To devour. [Obs.]

   The sow frete the child right in the cradle.
   --Chaucer.

2. To rub; to wear away by friction; to chafe; to gall; hence, to eat away; to gnaw; as, to fret cloth; to fret a piece of gold or other metal; a worm frets the plants of a ship.

   With many a curve my banks I fret.
   --Tennyson.

3. To impair; to wear away; to diminish.

   By starts His fretted fortunes give him hope and fear.
   --Shak.

4. To make rough, agitate, or disturb; to cause to ripple; as, to fret the surface of water.

5. To tease; to irritate; to vex.

   Fret not thyself because of evil doers.
   --Ps. xxxvii. 1.

Fret \Fret\, n.

1. The agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
   --Addison.

2. Agitation of mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation; as, he keeps his mind in a continual fret.

   Yet then did Dennis rave in furious fret.
   --Pope.

3. Herpes; tetter.
   --Dunglison.

4. pl. (Mining) The worn sides of river banks, where ores, or stones containing them, accumulate by being washed down from the hills, and thus indicate to the miners the locality of the veins.

Fret \Fret\, v. t. [OE. fretten to adorn, AS. fr[ae]twan, fr[ae]twian; akin to OS. fratah[=o]n, cf. Goth. us-fratwjan to make wise, also AS. fr[ae]twe ornaments, OS. fratah[=i] adornment.] To ornament with raised work; to variegate; to diversify.

Whose skirt with gold was fretted all about.
--Spenser.

Yon gray lines, That fret the clouds, are messengers of day.
--Shak.

Fret \Fret\, v. i.

1. To be worn away; to chafe; to fray; as, a wristband frets on the edges.

2. To eat in; to make way by corrosion.

   Many wheals arose, and fretted one into another with great excoriation.
   --Wiseman.

3. To be agitated; to be in violent commotion; to rankle; as, rancor 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.
   --Dryden.

Fret \Fret\, n. [F. frette a saltire, also a hoop, ferrule, prob. a dim. of L. ferrum iron. For sense 2, cf. also E. fret to rub.]

1. (Her.) A saltire interlaced with a mascle.

2. (Mus.) A short piece of wire, or other material fixed across the finger board of a guitar or a similar instrument, to indicate where the finger is to be placed.

Fret \Fret\, v. t. To furnish with frets, as an instrument of music.

Fret \Fret\, n.

1. Ornamental work in relief, as carving or embossing. See Fretwork.

2. (Arch.) An ornament consisting of small fillets or slats intersecting each other or bent at right angles, as in classical designs, or at oblique angles, as often in Oriental art.

   His lady's cabinet is a adorned on the fret, ceiling, and chimney-piece with . . . carving.
   --Evelyn.

3. The reticulated headdress or net, made of gold or silver wire, in which ladies in the Middle Ages confined their hair.

   A fret of gold she had next her hair.
   --Chaucer.

   Fret saw, a saw with a long, narrow blade, used in cutting frets, scrolls, etc.; a scroll saw; a keyhole saw; a compass saw.

"ornamental interlaced pattern," late 14c., from Old French frete "interlaced work, trellis work," probably from Frankish *fetur or another Germanic source (cognates: Old English fetor, Old High German feggara "a fetter, shackle") perhaps from the notion of "decorative anklet," or of materials "bound" together.

"ridge on the fingerboard of a guitar," c.1500, of unknown origin, possibly from another sense of Old French frete "ring, ferule." Compare Middle English fret "a tie or lace" (early 14c.), freten (v.) "to bind, fasten" (mid-14c.).

Old English fretan "devour, feed upon, consume," from Proto-Germanic compound *fra-etan "to eat up," from *fra- "completely" (see *per- (1)) + *etan "to eat" (see eat). Cognates include Dutch vreton, Old High German freggan, German fressen, Gothic fraitan.\n

\nUsed of monsters and Vikings; in Middle English used of animals' eating. Notion of "wear away by rubbing or scraping" (c.1200) might have come to this word by sound-association with Anglo-French forms of Old French froter "to rub, wipe; beat, thrash," which is from Latin fricare "to rub" (see friction). Figurative use is from c.1200, of emotions, sins, vices, etc., "to worry, consume, vex" someone or someone's heart or mind, from either the "eating" or the "rubbing" sense. Intransitive sense "be worried, vex oneself" is by 1550s. Modern German still distinguishes essen for humans and fressen for animals. Related: Fretted; fretting. As a noun, early 15c., "a gnawing," also "the wearing effect" of awareness of wrongdoing, fear, etc.

Etymology 1 n. 1 The agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water. 2 Agitation of mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation. 3 herpes; tetter. 4 (context mining in the plural English) The worn sides of river banks, where ores, or stones containing them, accumulate by being washed down from the hills, and thus indicate to the miners the locality of the veins. vb. 1 (context transitive obsolete/poetic English) To devour, consume; eat. 2 (context transitive and intransitive English) To gnaw, consume, eat away. 3 (context intransitive English) To be worn away; to chafe; to fray. 4 (context transitive English) To cut through with fretsaw, create fretwork. 5 (context transitive English) To chafe or irritate; to worry. 6 (context intransitive English) To worry or be anxious. Etymology 2

n. 1 (context music English) One of the pieces of metal/wood/plastic across the neck of a guitar or other musical instrument that marks note positions for fingering. 2 An ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines (often in relief). 3 (context heraldiccharge English) A saltire interlaced with a mascle. Etymology 3

n. A strait; channel. Etymology 4

n. (context dialectal North East England English) A fog or mist at sea or coming inland from the se

1. n. agitation resulting from active worry; "don't get in a stew"; "he's in a sweat about exams" [syn: stew, sweat, lather, swither]

2. a spot that has been worn away by abrasion or erosion [syn: worn spot]

3. an ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizonal lines (often in relief); "there was a simple fret at the top of the walls" [syn: Greek fret, Greek key, key pattern]

4. a small bar of metal across the fingerboard of a musical instrument; when the string is stopped by a finger at the metal bar it will produce a note of the desired pitch

5. [also: fretting, fretted]

1. v. worry unnecessarily or excessively; "don't fuss too much over the grandchildren--they are quite big now" [syn: fuss, niggle]

2. be agitated or irritated; "don't fret over these small details"

3. provide (a musical instrument) with frets; "fret a guitar"

4. become or make sore by or as if by rubbing [syn: chafe, gall]

5. cause annoyance in

6. gnaw into; make resentful or angry; "The unjustice rankled her"; "his resentment festered" [syn: eat into, rankle, grate]

7. carve a pattern into

8. decorate with an interlaced design

9. be too tight; rub or press; "This neckband is choking the cat" [syn: choke, gag]

10. cause friction; "my sweater scratches" [syn: rub, fray, chafe, scratch]

11. remove soil or rock; "Rain eroded the terraces" [syn: erode, eat away]

12. wear away or erode [syn: eat away]

13. [also: fretting, fretted]

FRET was a free magazine which covered the pop music scene in the Netherlands. It was published in the Dutch language. It contained interviews, reviews, a gig guide and background information about Dutch bands and artists. The magazine was available at record stores and venues in the Netherlands. It was published between 1994 and 2012. Today, each issue can be read digitally via their website. The website is offline as of August 2015.

FRET was published by the Dutch Rock & Pop Institute.

A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a stringed instrument.

Fret or FRET may also refer to:

• Förster resonance energy transfer or fluorescence resonance energy transfer; a fluorescence phenomenon with applications in biology and chemistry
• Fret (architecture), a repeated geometric ornament, forming a frieze
• Fret (heraldry), a heraldic charge
• FRET (magazine), a free magazine about the pop music scene in the Netherlands
• SNCF Fret, the rail freight organisation of the SNCF
• Worry
• frets or stroma lamellae (biology)

A fret is a raised element on the neck of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On most modern western fretted instruments, frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard. On some historical instruments and non-European instruments, frets are made of pieces of string tied around the neck.

Frets divide the neck into fixed segments at intervals related to a musical framework. On instruments such as guitars, each fret represents one semitone in the standard western system, in which one octave is divided into twelve semitones. Fret is often used as a verb, meaning simply "to press down the string behind a fret". Fretting often refers to the frets and/or their system of placement.