freshen

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: frĕshʹən

Etymology

fresh +‎ -en

Verb

freshen (third-person singular simple present freshens, present participle freshening, simple past and past participle freshened)

1. To become fresh.

   I'm going to go freshen up.

2. To make fresh.
   • 1857, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, book 1, chapter 31

     So go and freshen yourself up, Amy; go and freshen yourself up, like a good girl.

3. (of a cow) To begin or resume giving milk, especially after calving.
   • 1919 January, in The Chenango County Farm Bureau News, volume 5, number 1, page 7:

     For Sale—Three registered holstein cows. Due to freshen the first of Jan. February and March. Prices that will sell. Age three and five years. Eugune Gibson, Smyrna.