Fret

a. [A.S. fret an, to eat or gnaw; Ger. fre en, allied to Fr. frotter; Lat. fricare, to rub.] To eat away; to gnaw; to corrode; to wear away; to hurt or impair by attrition; to chafe. "They would grate and fret the object metal." - Newton. -To tease; to irritate; to vex; to make angry. "Injuries from friends fret and gall." - Arbuthnot. -To agitate violently by external impulse or action; as, to fret the surface of water. - To diversify; to variegate. [A. S. fretvjan, to adorn.] To form into raised work; to adorn with raised work. "The roof was fretted gold." - Milton. -To furnish with frets, as an instrument of music. -v. n. To make way by attrition or corrosion; as, to fret into wood, metal, . - To be vexed, chafed, irritated, or IMG:content-0262.png:[blocks in formation] (Med.) Chafing; herpes. (Mus.) One of the cro bars on the finger-boards of stringed instruments of ivory or bra , wherewith by pre ure of the finger the string is stopped to produce a certain note in the scale. The use of frets is still continued on the Spanish guitar, and they were formerly in constant use for learners upon what is called the ba viol; they were taken off when the pupil had learned by practice to measure the accurate distance of the stops. On lutes and viols they were always permitted to remain. (Her.) A figure resembling two sticks laid saltier wise, and interlaced with a muscle (Fig. 1073). When 6, 8, or more pieces are represented cro ing and interlacing like lattice-work, the FRET. Fig . 1073. FRETTY. shield is said to be fretty. -pl. ( Mining .) The sides of river-banks, ., worn by attrition, and presenting a detritus of ores, stones, ., washed down from higher localities, and thus affording an indication to the miners of the direction in which veins, lodes, . run.