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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fretting

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.

Wiktionary
fretting

n. Action of the verb ''to fret''. vb. (present participle of fret English)

WordNet
fretting

See fret

fret
  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]

fret
  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]

Wikipedia
Fretting

Fretting refers to wear and sometimes corrosion damage at the asperities of contact surfaces. This damage is induced under load and in the presence of repeated relative surface motion, as induced for example by vibration. The ASM Handbook on Fatigue and Fracture defines fretting as: "A special wear process that occurs at the contact area between two materials under load and subject to minute relative motion by vibration or some other force." Fretting tangibly downgrades the surface layer quality producing increased surface roughness and micropits; which reduces the fatigue strength of the components.

The amplitude of the relative sliding motion is often in the order from micrometers to millimeters, but can be as low as 3 to 4 nanometers.

The contact movement causes mechanical wear and material transfer at the surface, often followed by oxidation of both the metallic debris and the freshly exposed metallic surfaces. Because the oxidized debris is usually much harder than the surfaces from which it came, it often acts as an abrasive agent that increases the rate of both fretting and a mechanical wear called false brinelling.

Usage examples of "fretting".

The marshals perspiring, shouting, fretting, galloping about, urging this one forward, ordering this one back, ranged the thousands of conveyances and cavaliers in a long line, shaped like a wide open crescent.

The captains also from the castle did hold them in continual play with their slings, to the chafing and fretting of the minds of the enemies.

They had to return to refuel twice, and both times he could almost hear Yana fretting that they had missed Sean at the very moment when they might have saved him.

To people who have naturally very intense and very acute feelings, nothing is so fretting, so wearing to the heart, as the commonplace affections, which are the properties and offspring of the world.

I switched from fretting about Tom, to wondering if I could safely boot my laptop and read his e-mails, to worrying about Arch. Where was my son at that moment?

I became furious, knocking at the door, stamping my feet, fretting and fuming, and accompanying this useless hubbub with loud cries.

Thus it was that sunset found Phaid sunk in the back of an autocab, fretting miserably as the android handler made little headway in the totally snarled traffic.

Greece for a further year, fretting because his extended absence gave Cinna and his confederates more time to prepare for war.

He left the glass booth, and the man with goitres who had been fretting outside the door all this while rushed in and began to speak excitedly into the telephone in a language that resembled Bulgarian.

Usually, he dealt logically with problems that he could solve, and he wasted little time fretting over the rest, but the Lanthanides troubled him.

Blanche Creamer, who had taken such a fancy to him, or a chat with the Widow Rowens, who was very lively in her talk, for all her sombre colors, and reminded him a good deal of same of his earlier friends, the senoritas,--all these were distractions, to be sure, but not enough to keep his fiery spirit from fretting itself in longings for more dangerous excitements.

Lord of the Titans seemed to notice her for the first time, she had spent much of her time fretting over the coming breakfast engagement.

But the worst of foolish laws is, that when the insurgent spirit casts them off, it is but too ready to cast away with them the genial self-restraint which these fretting trammels have smothered beneath them.

The prospect of an entry into the big new house, among a new society, begirt by the old nightmares and fretting devils, drew her into staring daylight or furnace-light.

As soon as the cobwebs cleared, she became disoriented, terrified of the place, and once that fear had abated, she started fretting about Childers, wondering where he was and what we should do.