1. (v.i.)fret to feel or express worry, annoyance, discontent, or the like.
2. fret to cause corrosion; gnaw into something: acids that fret at the strongest metals.
3. fret to make a way by gnawing, corrosion, wearing away, etc.
4. fret to become eaten, worn, or corroded (often fol. by away).
5. fret to move in agitation or commotion, as water.
6. (v.t.)fret to irritate, annoy, or vex; torment.
7. fret to wear away or consume by gnawing, friction, rust, corrosives, etc.
8. fret to form or make by wearing away a substance.
9. fret to agitate (water).
10. (n.)fret an irritated state of mind; annoyance; vexation.
11. fret erosion; corrosion.
12. fret a worn or eroded place.
13. (n.)fret an interlaced, angular design; fretwork.
14. fret an angular design of bands within a border.
15. fret a piece of decoratively pierced work placed in a clock case to deaden the sound.
16. (v.t.)fret to ornament with a fret or fretwork.
17. (n.)fret any of the ridges of wood, metal, or string, set across the fingerboard of an instrument, as a guitar or lute, to help the fingers stop the strings at the correct points.
18. (v.t.)fret to provide with frets.
Etymology: (1490–1500)
Definition of 'FRET'
Princeton's WordNet
1. (noun)fret, stew, sweat, lather, swither agitation resulting from active worry "don't get in a stew"; "he's in a sweat about exams"
2. (noun)worn spot, fret a spot that has been worn away by abrasion or erosion
3. (noun)fret, Greek fret, Greek key, key pattern an ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines (often in relief) "there was a simple fret at the top of the walls"
3. (noun)FRET agitation of mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation; as, he keeps his mind in a continual fret
4. (noun)FRET herpes; tetter
5. (noun)FRET the worn sides of river banks, where ores, or stones containing them, accumulate by being washed down from the hills, and thus indicate to the miners the locality of the veins
7. (noun)FRET an ornament consisting of smmall fillets or slats intersecting each other or bent at right angles, as in classical designs, or at obilique angles, as often in Oriental art
8. (noun)FRET the reticulated headdress or net, made of gold or silver wire, in which ladies in the Middle Ages confined their hair
9. (noun)FRET a saltire interlaced with a mascle
10. (noun)FRET a shortpiece of wire, or other material fixed across the fingerboard of a guitar or a similar instrument, to indicate where the finger is to be placed
11. (verb)FRET to devour
12. (verb)FRET to rub; to wear away by friction; to chafe; to gall; hence, to eat away; to gnaw; as, to fret cloth; to fret a piece of gold or other metal; a worm frets the plants of a ship
13. (verb)FRET to impair; to wear away; to diminish
14. (verb)FRET to make rough, agitate, or disturb; to cause to ripple; as, to fret the surface of water
15. (verb)FRET to tease; to irritate; to vex
16. (verb)FRET to be worn away; to chafe; to fray; as, a wristband frets on the edges