freten

freten

1. inflection of fretar:
   1. third-person plural present subjunctive
   2. third-person plural imperative

Inherited from Old English fretan, from Proto-West Germanic *fraetan, from Proto-Germanic *fraetaną; equivalent to fret (“eating away”) +‎ -en (infinitival suffix).

Some senses are possibly influenced by an Old French *freiter.

• ffrete, frete, fretyn, vreten
• (early) freoten

• IPA^(key): /ˈfrɛːtən/

freten (third-person singular simple present freteth, present participle fretynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative frat, past participle freten)

1. To consume, to devour, to eat (usually of animals).
   • 1370–1390, William Langland, “Passus. xviii. de visione”, in Piers Plowman:

     At the bigynnyng God gaf the doom hymselve-- / That Adam and Eve and alle that hem suwede / Sholden deye downrighte, and dwelle in peyne after / If that thei touchede a tree and of the fruyt eten. / Adam afterward, ayeins his defence, / Freet of that fruyt, and forsook, as it were, / The love of Oure Lord and his loore bothe […]

     At the beginning God gave the judgment himself / That Adam and Eve and all them that ensued, / Should die down right and dwell in pain after, / If that they touched a tree and the fruit ate, / Adam afterward against his warning / Ate of that fruit, and forsook, as it were, / The love of our Lord and his lore both, […]

2. (figurative) To ruin; to devastate.
3. To wear or abrade; to rub or chafe at:
   1. To gnaw or chomp; to attack with the teeth.
   2. To corrode; to eat or wear away.
   3. (figurative) To wear at; to annoy or injure.
4. (rare, cooking) To force through a strainer.

• fret
• forfreten

• English: fret
• Scots: frete, freet

• “frēten, v.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Borrowed from Old French frete, past participle of freter (“to decorate”).

• fret

• IPA^(key): /ˈfrɛːtən/, /ˈfrɛtən/

freten (third-person singular simple present freteth, present participle fretynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative frette, past participle fret)

1. To decorate with precious adornments (often wire or gems)
2. To supply, stock or load; to make full.
3. (rare) To place as such a decoration.

This verb is usually found in the past participle, though other forms occasionally appear.

• fret

• English: fret

• “frēten, v.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “frēten, v.(4).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Borrowed from Old French fretter, freter, from frette (“ring”). See fretter.

• fretten

• IPA^(key): /ˈfrɛːtən/, /ˈfrɛtən/

freten (third-person singular simple present freteth, present participle fretynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative frette, past participle fret)

1. To bind or tie, especially with a loop

This verb is usually found in the past participle, though other forms occasionally appear.

• fret

• English: fret

• “frēten, v.(3).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfre.ten/

freten

1. singular present subjunctive of fretan

freten

1. inflection of fretar:
   1. third-person plural present subjunctive
   2. third-person plural imperative