Citations:fret

English citations of fret

Etymology 1

Verb

1. (transitive) In the form fret out: to squander, to waste.
   • 1611, John Speed, “Henrie the Sixth, King of England, and France, Lord of Ireland: The Three and Fiftieth Monarch of England, His Raigne, Actes, and Issve”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of ye Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. [...], Imprinted at London: [By William Hall and John Beale] [...] and are to be solde by Iohn Sudbury & Georg Humble, in Popes-head alley at ye signe of ye white Horse, →OCLC; republished London: Printed by Iohn Beale, for George Hvmble, and are to be sold in Popes-head Pallace, at the signe of the White Horse, 1614, →OCLC, book 9, paragraph 55, page 665, column 1:

     Yorke hereupon conſults with his ſpeciall friends; […] how Yorke might get the Crowne of England, and for that cauſe how to ruine or fret out the Duke of Sommerſet; who ſtanding, they were to looke for ſtrong oppoſition.

   • 1835, Louisa Sidney Stanhope, “Conclusion”, in Sydney Beresford. A Tale of the Day. [...] In Three Volumes, volume III, London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, Paternoster-Row, →OCLC, page 274:

     We are all hurrying down the one common stream to the great ocean of eternity: but are we performing our social duties, as citizens of the world, in sculking away into holes and corners, to fret out time and life, because God has judged fit to withdraw the favourite toy he lent us—not making us destitute—but graciously leaving in our keeping, ten thousand toys beside.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To be chafed or irritated; to be angry or vexed; to utter peevish expressions through irritation or worry.
   • 2013, S. Feinman, Social Referencing and the Social Construction of Reality in Infancy:

     In cases of failure, the baby's reaction may be less useful than the acknowledgment of reaching the goal that is common in the successful episodes, since the baby may simply look away from the adult or “fret out" when efforts fail.

3. Senses unclear.
   • 1833, The New Theatrical Observer and Censor of the Stage:

     This, we say, would not have been bestowed upon him, solely to fret out "the muddy vesture of decay, by which he is enveloped, it was intended by heaven to exhalt and ennoble him. and heaven will direct it to the end for which it was intended […]

   • 1922, Walter De la Mare, Down-adown-derry: A Book of Fairy Poems, page 150:

     Rave how thou wilt; unmoved, remote, That inward presence slumbers not, Frets out each secret from thy breast