fraught

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Contents

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English, from Middle Dutch vracht or Middle Low German vracht (“freight money”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *fra- (intensive prefix) + Proto-Germanic *aihtiz (“possession”), from Proto-Indo-European *eik'- (“to possess”). Cognate with Old High German frēht (“earnings”), Old English ǣht (“owndom”). More at for-, own.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

fraught (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) The hire of a ship or boat to transport cargo.
  2. (obsolete) Money paid to hire a ship or boat to transport cargo; freight
    fraught money.
  3. (obsolete) The transportation of goods, especially in a ship or boat.
  4. (obsolete) A ship's cargo, lading or freight.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  5. (Scotland) A load; a burden.
  6. (Scotland) Two bucketfuls (of water).

Derived terms[edit]

Verb[edit]

fraught (third-person singular simple present fraughts, present participle fraughting, simple past and past participle fraughted)

  1. (transitive, obsolete except in past participle) To load (a ship, cargo etc.).
    • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare
      Had I been any god of power, I would / Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er / It should the good ship so have swallow'd and / The fraughting souls within her.

Adjective[edit]

fraught (comparative more fraught, superlative most fraught)

  1. (of a cargo-carrier) Laden.
  2. (with with) Furnished, equipped.
  3. (figuratively, with with) Loaded-up, charged or accompanied.
    • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 236d.
      all these matters are fraught with paradox, just as they always have been..
  4. Distressed.

Translations[edit]

Charged or accompanied with
distressed

References[edit]

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