fret1
verbfretted, frets, fretting frɛtfrɛt
1no object Be constantly or visibly anxious.
烦躁；苦恼；焦急she fretted about the cost of groceries她为日常用品的费用发愁。
- Politicians fret over the rising cost of pensions while careless juveniles, ignoring their own inevitable fate, act as though older people are somehow dim-witted.
- He would often visit them on the weekends and constantly fretted about their well-being.
- An alarming new survey has found that almost one in four parents fret constantly about whether they have the ability to raise their children properly.
- I had fretted at night concerned that he was feeling lonely.
- Heather was horribly disconcerted, fretting to no end.
- She said: ‘I was panicking, fretting, crying and pleading with him to give me back my daughter.’
- Unfortunately, that's not the end of him - he stays onscreen as a ghost, fretting over his still-living partner.
- This portfolio manager also takes a dim view of his Sunday evening being disturbed by a client fretting about something neither of them can do anything about until at least the next business day.
- These letters reveal the eager young composer fretting anxiously over arrangements for the premiere of the work.
- Acton sat gazing out the windows, too anxious to do anything but fret about Lombard.
- Gus was anxious, fretting when I let him out of my study.
- It would have been so typical of me to start panicking and fretting with all that is expected of me.
- When the upper middle classes complain about housing prices, they are really fretting about the cost of housing in the most desirable locations.
- Yes, it was bothersome but nothing to fret over too much.
- What I've learned through the 12-step program I'm in is to release to a higher power the concerns that I fret over.
- ‘I was fretting about telling my parents,’ he recalls.
- The neurotic quality that Brooks brings to his characters is well suited to Marlin, constantly fretting over Nemo's safety and youthful exuberance.
- Another focuses on an anxious woman who frets about how her partner's personality changes when he gets behind the wheel.
- I mean I've fretted over the cost for seven months now, right?
- The post-war period was stressful for the king who fretted constantly.
worry, be anxious, feel uneasy, be distressed, be upset, upset oneself, concern oneself, feel unhappyagonize, anguish, sorrow, sigh, pine, brood, mopefuss, make a fuss, complain, grumble, whine, eat one's heart outinformal stew, feel peeved- 1.1with object Cause anxiety to.his absence during her times awake began to fret her
- ‘It's brilliant for the fans,’ says Killen, unconcerned with the stress caused by the forward-thinking foursome in fretting defenders across the country.
- I expect they'll be sending us out on a mission soon enough though, so don't fret yourself.
- I doubt it'll change what I do, but it continues to fret me.
- He keeps fretting himself into a frenzy on a race continuum, sliding between dynamic and charismatic, sinister and galling.
- You break the rules of your people, invite danger upon yourself and fret your mother.
- Justin said in an encouraging voice ‘don't fret Mary, Rebecca will be safe I promise you that.’
- Policyholders must be fretting themselves witless over what to do next.
trouble, bother, concern, perturb, disturb, disquiet, disconcert, make anxious, cause anxiety, distress, upset, torment, alarm, panic, cause to panic, agitateinformal rattle, eat away atarchaic pother
2with object Gradually wear away (something) by rubbing or gnawing.
（通过摩擦或啮咬）使磨损，使销蚀the bay's black waves fret the seafront海湾里黑色的波浪侵蚀着滨海区。
- In all the caves they were surrounded by beautifully fluted and fretted columns whose pure white frosted surfaces shone out like beacons in the harsh magnesium light of their lanterns.
- It has a proper mixed-use urban centre that focuses on a park and stretches along a magnificent site between forested hills and the complex fretted geometry of the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
erode, wear away, wear down, eat away, eat away at, chip away, chip away at, bite into, corrode, consume, devour- 2.1 Form (a channel or passage) by rubbing or wearing away.（经侵蚀而）形成（沟，通道）what shape the sea has fretted into the land
3no object Flow or move in small waves.
打着涟漪流动（或移动）squelchy clay that fretted between his toes在他脚趾间嘎吱嘎吱地翻滚着的泥土。
nounPlural frets frɛtfrɛt
British A state of anxiety.
〈主英〉烦躁；苦恼；焦急why would anyone get themselves in a fret over something so simple?- She also says that stars who had to return their borrowed designer duds did not have fret about removing sweat stains.
Origin
Old English fretan 'devour, consume', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vreten and German fressen, and ultimately to for- and eat.
If we tell an anxious person not to fret, we are telling them not to worry, but in Old English the word meant ‘devour, consume’. It is from the same root as eat. The fret in fretsaw (mid 19th century), and fretwork (early 17th century) is a different word, from Old French freté ‘trelliswork’, while the fret on a guitar neck is yet another word, of unknown origin.
Rhymes
abet, aiguillette, anisette, Annette, Antoinette, arête, Arlette, ate, baguette, banquette, barbette, barrette, basinet, bassinet, beget, Bernadette, beset, bet, Bette, blanquette, Brett, briquette, brochette, brunette (US brunet), Burnett, cadet, caravanette, cassette, castanet, charette, cigarette (US cigaret), clarinet, Claudette, Colette, coquette, corvette, couchette, courgette, croquette, curette, curvet, Debrett, debt, dinette, diskette, duet, epaulette (US epaulet), flageolet, flannelette, forget, galette, gazette, Georgette, get, godet, grisette, heavyset, Jeanette, jet, kitchenette, La Fayette, landaulet, launderette, layette, lazaret, leatherette, let, Lett, lorgnette, luncheonette, lunette, Lynette, maisonette, majorette, maquette, Marie-Antoinette, marionette, Marquette, marquisette, martinet, met, minaret, minuet, moquette, motet, musette, Nanette, net, noisette, nonet, novelette, nymphet, octet, Odette, on-set, oubliette, Paulette, pet, Phuket, picquet, pillaret, pincette, pipette, piquet, pirouette, planchette, pochette, quartet, quickset, quintet, regret, ret, Rhett, roomette, rosette, roulette, satinette, septet, serviette, sestet, set, sett, sextet, silhouette, soubrette, spinet, spinneret, statuette, stet, stockinet, sublet, suffragette, Suzette, sweat, thickset, threat, Tibet, toilette, tret, underlet, upset, usherette, vedette, vet, vignette, vinaigrette, wagonette, wet, whet, winceyette, yet, Yvette
fret2
nounPlural frets frɛtfrɛt
1Art Architecture
A repeating ornamental design of vertical and horizontal lines, such as the Greek key pattern.〔艺术，建筑〕回纹饰- In France, reaction against the asymmetric filigree of late Rococo produced frames with architectural frets and interlaced ornament, suited to the Neoclassical interior.
2Heraldry
A device of narrow diagonal bands interlaced through a diamond.〔纹章〕钻石上的回纹饰图案
verbfretted, frets, fretting frɛtfrɛt
[with object]usually as adjective frettedDecorate with fretwork.
用回纹装饰intricately carved and fretted balustrades有回纹装饰雕刻精致的栏杆。
- The interior is further illuminated by slatted or fretted skylights while lower down, translucent canopies act as light diffusors.
- An archway on the western side of the pool opens on the causeway, bordered with balustrades of fretted marble, and, at close intervals there are standard lamps, their great lanterns set upon the marble columns.
- Late medieval screens were frequently carved in an exuberant Gothic style with fretted tracery, pinnacles, and arcades.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French frete 'trelliswork' and freter (verb), of unknown origin.
fret3
nounPlural frets frɛtfrɛt
Each of a sequence of ridges on the fingerboard of some stringed musical instruments (such as the guitar), used for fixing the positions of the fingers to produce the desired notes.
（吉他等弦乐器指板上用于定音的）品- He positioned her left hand and put her fingers on certain frets.
- The sweating made him more afraid of playing badly, as he worried that his fingers would slip on the frets of the lute.
- ‘Okay,’ Chris said, sounding happier. ‘the first one goes like this,’ and here he took my fingers, and placed them on the frets and strings that applied.
- I put my hand over the strings to silence them and whipped my fingers away from the frets.
- His fingers flew up and down the frets, and most, if not all, the notes came out clean.
- Just as she had found the correct frets for the fifth time in a row, there was a knock on the door.
- She sat back down on her bed with the guitar in her lap, she positioned it and put her fingers on the frets and began to play one of the songs Erica had taught her.
- The frequency is determined by the wavelength, which is altered by changing the length of the string using the frets.
- I touched my finger to the index finger of his left hand, feeling the hardened skin there, supposedly from pressing guitar strings down at the right frets.
- The instrument has no frets or fingerboard; the strings float in the air.
- Slow and melancholic, it fizzes momentarily before breaking away into a folk-like rhythm as Dylan Jones, the other half of the group, picks and slides his way through the frets of a steel string acoustic guitar.
- My hair was hanging in front of my face as I leaned over to see the frets of my guitar.
- Even as I was thinking this, my fingers placed themselves on the frets and the pick glided across the strings as if of their own accord.
- His fingers flew across the frets while I was sure the plectrum he was holding should have been worn to shreds as he played.
- Dick used the drum sticks to bang out the notes on the bass, with Tommy fingering the chords on the fret.
- She slid her fingers onto the frets, and moved them.
- One of his largest houses, for a musician, is called the Guitar House because its 40 rammed-earth columns look like the neck and frets of a guitar.
- She studied what she had wrote, playing it back in her mind while lightly tapping her foot as she moved her hand to the various positions on the frets of the guitar.
- For example, if there's a number thirteen on the third line down then you know you've got to put your finger on the thirteenth fret of the third string, and so on.
- She changed frets dramatically, adding little flourishes here and there.
verbfretted, frets, fretting frɛtfrɛt
[with object]1Provide (a stringed instrument) with frets.
给（弦乐器）装品a fretted neck- The pipa is a plucked string instrument with a fretted fingerboard.
- The ability of fretted instruments to play chords and drive a piece along rhythmically has done a lot to change the range of sound in Irish music over the past 30 years.
2Play (a note) while pressing the string down against a fret.
把琴弦压在音品上演奏（某音）fretted notes将琴弦压在品上奏出的音。
Derivatives
fretless
- The violin is fretless; there are no bars on the neck of the instrument that divide the strings into exact musical intervals corresponding to the chromatic, Western, scale.
- Early banjos were fretless, frets being first added to the fingerboard in the 1870s.
- The breakup of the party began when a comment about Jaco Pastorius led to a discussion about fretted versus fretless basses, and which Pastorius album was his best.
- Like all good early '80s albums, it features lots of fretless bass and glistening electronics.
- The trio would turn up with a guitar and a rare fretless banjo, while Sparkes would dress in a town-crier outfit.
adjective
Origin
Early 16th century: of unknown origin.
fret4
(also sea fret)
nounPlural frets frɛtfrɛt
Northern English A mist coming in off the sea; a sea fog.
〈北英格兰〉从海上来的雾；海雾- Some elements are lost as when the sea fret covers the coast to then reappear again with echoes of previous layers, tracing a history and creating the painting's own character.
- I was briefly rewarded with this gentle sunrise before a sea fret moved in.
- The clouds and sea fret can make it just about any shade of orange, red, yellow, pink or purple you might care to imagine.
- We woke to a thick sea fret which reduced visibility considerably, but gave a great atmosphere to the place.
- If the wind is blowing in from the east then sea fret hits even when the rest of old Blighty is basking in conditions more akin to the Mediterranean.
- The first weekend of this June brought bright sunshine, light winds and no sea fret, resulting in ideal conditions for diving the beautiful Northumberland coastline.
- We've been mired in a sea fret for days now.
- The eerie skeleton of Dunstanburgh Castle seen through a sea fret is one of the spectacular sights of the Northumberland coast.
- Sometimes it can be to its advantage, like today, but other times can result in sea frets, when mist rolls in from the sea, making it cold and damp, when it may be warm and sunny inland.
- The weather seems to be either glorious, or absolutely appalling, and sea frets regularly come sailing in over the horizon from the nearby Solent.
- I remember sea frets, I remember walking down there at night, I remember sitting on the rocks with the waves crashing inches away.
- With the sea fret and a keen northerly wind by then it was getting a little nippy.
- After mooring and rigging for the night the sea fret closed in further limiting visibility to less than 100 yards.
- Whilst visiting Bridlington today we stopped at the harbour and found that the sea fret was still covering most of it.
- The sun had now more-or-less burned away the remains of the sea fret, and it was a very pleasant, not uncomfortably warm afternoon.
- There were at least two lots of these sea frets yesterday too.
- Consequently, coastal districts were often chilly, although sea frets, also frequently brought in from this direction, were thankfully scarce.
- In winter, sea frets spread like smoke across the bare soil, the few trees drip with damp, and the occasional farmworker on a bike is the only movement in the ancient, narrow lanes.
- I can hear a siren when the air is still, and the sea fret comes in.
- The flinty soil there makes for a robust, nutty grain and the sea frets mellow it to a delicious flavour
Origin
Mid 19th century: of unknown origin.
fret1
verbfrɛtfret
1no object Be constantly or visibly worried or anxious.
烦躁；苦恼；焦急she fretted about the cost of groceries她为日常用品的费用发愁。
with clause I fretted that my fingers were so skinny我为自己瘦骨嶙峋的手指而烦恼。
- Politicians fret over the rising cost of pensions while careless juveniles, ignoring their own inevitable fate, act as though older people are somehow dim-witted.
- An alarming new survey has found that almost one in four parents fret constantly about whether they have the ability to raise their children properly.
- What I've learned through the 12-step program I'm in is to release to a higher power the concerns that I fret over.
- Unfortunately, that's not the end of him - he stays onscreen as a ghost, fretting over his still-living partner.
- Acton sat gazing out the windows, too anxious to do anything but fret about Lombard.
- Yes, it was bothersome but nothing to fret over too much.
- I had fretted at night concerned that he was feeling lonely.
- Gus was anxious, fretting when I let him out of my study.
- Heather was horribly disconcerted, fretting to no end.
- She said: ‘I was panicking, fretting, crying and pleading with him to give me back my daughter.’
- He would often visit them on the weekends and constantly fretted about their well-being.
- The neurotic quality that Brooks brings to his characters is well suited to Marlin, constantly fretting over Nemo's safety and youthful exuberance.
- Another focuses on an anxious woman who frets about how her partner's personality changes when he gets behind the wheel.
- The post-war period was stressful for the king who fretted constantly.
- When the upper middle classes complain about housing prices, they are really fretting about the cost of housing in the most desirable locations.
- I mean I've fretted over the cost for seven months now, right?
- This portfolio manager also takes a dim view of his Sunday evening being disturbed by a client fretting about something neither of them can do anything about until at least the next business day.
- It would have been so typical of me to start panicking and fretting with all that is expected of me.
- ‘I was fretting about telling my parents,’ he recalls.
- These letters reveal the eager young composer fretting anxiously over arrangements for the premiere of the work.
worry, be anxious, feel uneasy, be distressed, be upset, upset oneself, concern oneself, feel unhappy- 1.1with object Cause (someone) worry or distress.使苦恼；使忧伤
- ‘It's brilliant for the fans,’ says Killen, unconcerned with the stress caused by the forward-thinking foursome in fretting defenders across the country.
- I expect they'll be sending us out on a mission soon enough though, so don't fret yourself.
- I doubt it'll change what I do, but it continues to fret me.
- Justin said in an encouraging voice ‘don't fret Mary, Rebecca will be safe I promise you that.’
- He keeps fretting himself into a frenzy on a race continuum, sliding between dynamic and charismatic, sinister and galling.
- Policyholders must be fretting themselves witless over what to do next.
- You break the rules of your people, invite danger upon yourself and fret your mother.
trouble, bother, concern, perturb, disturb, disquiet, disconcert, make anxious, cause anxiety, distress, upset, torment, alarm, panic, cause to panic, agitate
2with object Gradually wear away (something) by rubbing or gnawing.
（通过摩擦或啮咬）使磨损，使销蚀the bay's black waves fret the seafront海湾里黑色的波浪侵蚀着滨海区。
- In all the caves they were surrounded by beautifully fluted and fretted columns whose pure white frosted surfaces shone out like beacons in the harsh magnesium light of their lanterns.
- It has a proper mixed-use urban centre that focuses on a park and stretches along a magnificent site between forested hills and the complex fretted geometry of the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
erode, wear away, wear down, eat away, eat away at, chip away, chip away at, bite into, corrode, consume, devour- 2.1 Form (a channel or passage) by rubbing or wearing away.（经侵蚀而）形成（沟，通道）
3no object Flow or move in small waves.
打着涟漪流动（或移动）soft clay that fretted between his toes在他脚趾间嘎吱嘎吱地翻滚着的泥土。
nounfrɛtfret
British A state of anxiety or worry.
〈主英〉烦躁；苦恼；焦急- She also says that stars who had to return their borrowed designer duds did not have fret about removing sweat stains.
Origin
Old English fretan ‘devour, consume’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vreten and German fressen, and ultimately to for- and eat.
fret2
nounfretfrɛt
1Art Architecture
A repeating ornamental design of interlaced vertical and horizontal lines, such as the Greek key pattern.〔艺术，建筑〕回纹饰- In France, reaction against the asymmetric filigree of late Rococo produced frames with architectural frets and interlaced ornament, suited to the Neoclassical interior.
2Heraldry
A device of narrow diagonal bands interlaced through a diamond.〔纹章〕钻石上的回纹饰图案
verbfretfrɛt
[with object]usually as adjective frettedDecorate with fretwork.
用回纹装饰intricately carved and fretted balustrades有回纹装饰雕刻精致的栏杆。
- The interior is further illuminated by slatted or fretted skylights while lower down, translucent canopies act as light diffusors.
- Late medieval screens were frequently carved in an exuberant Gothic style with fretted tracery, pinnacles, and arcades.
- An archway on the western side of the pool opens on the causeway, bordered with balustrades of fretted marble, and, at close intervals there are standard lamps, their great lanterns set upon the marble columns.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French frete ‘trelliswork’ and freter (verb), of unknown origin.
fret3
nounfretfrɛt
Each of a sequence of bars or ridges on the fingerboard of some stringed musical instruments (such as the guitar), used for fixing the positions of the fingers to produce the desired notes.
（吉他等弦乐器指板上用于定音的）品- The frequency is determined by the wavelength, which is altered by changing the length of the string using the frets.
- Dick used the drum sticks to bang out the notes on the bass, with Tommy fingering the chords on the fret.
- For example, if there's a number thirteen on the third line down then you know you've got to put your finger on the thirteenth fret of the third string, and so on.
- She sat back down on her bed with the guitar in her lap, she positioned it and put her fingers on the frets and began to play one of the songs Erica had taught her.
- His fingers flew up and down the frets, and most, if not all, the notes came out clean.
- She slid her fingers onto the frets, and moved them.
- ‘Okay,’ Chris said, sounding happier. ‘the first one goes like this,’ and here he took my fingers, and placed them on the frets and strings that applied.
- He positioned her left hand and put her fingers on certain frets.
- She studied what she had wrote, playing it back in her mind while lightly tapping her foot as she moved her hand to the various positions on the frets of the guitar.
- Even as I was thinking this, my fingers placed themselves on the frets and the pick glided across the strings as if of their own accord.
- I touched my finger to the index finger of his left hand, feeling the hardened skin there, supposedly from pressing guitar strings down at the right frets.
- The sweating made him more afraid of playing badly, as he worried that his fingers would slip on the frets of the lute.
- One of his largest houses, for a musician, is called the Guitar House because its 40 rammed-earth columns look like the neck and frets of a guitar.
- His fingers flew across the frets while I was sure the plectrum he was holding should have been worn to shreds as he played.
- She changed frets dramatically, adding little flourishes here and there.
- The instrument has no frets or fingerboard; the strings float in the air.
- I put my hand over the strings to silence them and whipped my fingers away from the frets.
- Just as she had found the correct frets for the fifth time in a row, there was a knock on the door.
- My hair was hanging in front of my face as I leaned over to see the frets of my guitar.
- Slow and melancholic, it fizzes momentarily before breaking away into a folk-like rhythm as Dylan Jones, the other half of the group, picks and slides his way through the frets of a steel string acoustic guitar.
verbfretfrɛt
[with object]1Provide (a stringed instrument) with frets.
给（弦乐器）装品- The ability of fretted instruments to play chords and drive a piece along rhythmically has done a lot to change the range of sound in Irish music over the past 30 years.
- The pipa is a plucked string instrument with a fretted fingerboard.
2Play (a note) while pressing the string down against a fret.
把琴弦压在音品上演奏（某音）fretted notes将琴弦压在品上奏出的音。
Origin
Early 16th century: of unknown origin.
fret4
(also sea fret)
nounfretfrɛt
Northern English A mist coming in off the sea; a sea fog.
〈北英格兰〉从海上来的雾；海雾- The weather seems to be either glorious, or absolutely appalling, and sea frets regularly come sailing in over the horizon from the nearby Solent.
- The flinty soil there makes for a robust, nutty grain and the sea frets mellow it to a delicious flavour
- Sometimes it can be to its advantage, like today, but other times can result in sea frets, when mist rolls in from the sea, making it cold and damp, when it may be warm and sunny inland.
- We woke to a thick sea fret which reduced visibility considerably, but gave a great atmosphere to the place.
- The eerie skeleton of Dunstanburgh Castle seen through a sea fret is one of the spectacular sights of the Northumberland coast.
- If the wind is blowing in from the east then sea fret hits even when the rest of old Blighty is basking in conditions more akin to the Mediterranean.
- The first weekend of this June brought bright sunshine, light winds and no sea fret, resulting in ideal conditions for diving the beautiful Northumberland coastline.
- Whilst visiting Bridlington today we stopped at the harbour and found that the sea fret was still covering most of it.
- Some elements are lost as when the sea fret covers the coast to then reappear again with echoes of previous layers, tracing a history and creating the painting's own character.
- I was briefly rewarded with this gentle sunrise before a sea fret moved in.
- The sun had now more-or-less burned away the remains of the sea fret, and it was a very pleasant, not uncomfortably warm afternoon.
- With the sea fret and a keen northerly wind by then it was getting a little nippy.
- There were at least two lots of these sea frets yesterday too.
- I can hear a siren when the air is still, and the sea fret comes in.
- We've been mired in a sea fret for days now.
- Consequently, coastal districts were often chilly, although sea frets, also frequently brought in from this direction, were thankfully scarce.
- After mooring and rigging for the night the sea fret closed in further limiting visibility to less than 100 yards.
- The clouds and sea fret can make it just about any shade of orange, red, yellow, pink or purple you might care to imagine.
- I remember sea frets, I remember walking down there at night, I remember sitting on the rocks with the waves crashing inches away.
- In winter, sea frets spread like smoke across the bare soil, the few trees drip with damp, and the occasional farmworker on a bike is the only movement in the ancient, narrow lanes.
Origin
Mid 19th century: of unknown origin.