[a. F. fraise fem.
The F. word is app. a transferred use of the earlier fraise mesentery of a calf; for a similar development of meaning see CHITTERLING; cf. also FRILL sb.1]
1. A ruff such as was worn in the 16th century.
1800. C. Smith, Solit. Wanderer, III. 79. The stranger had already caught a glimpse between the trees of the white fraise she wore, and which made at that time a part even of a peasant’s dress.
1830. G. P. R. James, Darnley, xv. A beautiful standing ruff, or fraise, as the French termed it, of fine Italian lace.
1876. Ouida, Winter City, ii. 22. She had feuille morte velvet slashed with the palest of ambers; a high fraise; sleeves of the renaissance; pointed shoes, and a great many jewels.
2. Fortif. A palisade, made horizontal or slightly inclining to the horizon, placed for defence round a work near the berm.
1775. R. Montgomery, in Sparks, Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853), II. 470. By the time we arrived there, the fraise around the berme would be destroyed.
1851. J. S. Macaulay, Field Fortif., 91. The stakes of the fraise should be 11 feet long, that they may be buried 41/2 feet in the parapet, rest 11/2 feet on the berm, and project 5 feet beyond the escarp.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U. S., VI. liv. 427. So soon as the way was cleared by the brave carpenters, the storming party threw themselves into the ditch, broke through the fraises, and mounted the parapet.
