Fresh a., adv. and sb.¹

Forms: α. 1 fersc, 3 fersse, ferchs, south. uer(i)sse, 4 fersch(e. β. 3 Orm. fressh, 3–5 fress(e, 3–6 freche, fres(s)ch(e, 4 fraiche, frechs, 4–5 freys(s(he, freyssche, 4–6 fres(s)h(e, 4 freisch, 5 freisshe, 4– fresh. [The α forms, which are not found later than the 14th c., represent OE. fersc (recorded only in senses 4 and 5, opposed to ‘salt’), corresponding to Du. versch, OHG. frisc (MHG. vrisch, mod.Ger. frisch; used in senses approximately identical with those found in Eng.), ON. fersk-r (Sw. färsk, Da. fersk; chiefly in physical senses; the mod. Icel. frísk, Sw., Da. frisk, are adopted from Ger.):—OTeut. *frisko-. As the β forms (with fre-) do not occur till the 13th c., it is most likely that they are due to adoption of OF. freis masc., fresche fem. (mod.F. frais, fraîche), = Pr. fresc, Sp., Pg., It. fresco, a Com. Rom. adoption of OTeut. *frisko-.

  The senses first occurring in ME. coincide substantially with those in OF.; how far they were introduced from that language, and how far they descend from unrecorded OE. uses, cannot be determined.

  The ultimate etymology of OTeut. *frisko- is obscure. Kluge compares OSl. prĕsĭnŭ fresh (:—*praiskino), Lith. prëskas unleavened, and Finn. rieska- unleavened.]

  A.  adj.

  I.  New, recent.

  1.  New, novel; not previously known, used, met with, introduced, etc. † Also absol. in advb. phr. of, on fresh = AFRESH.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter, Cant. 516. New & freyss goddis come.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Blanchardyn and Eglantine, xliii. 165. The battayl beganne of fresshe to be sore fyers and grete.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 302 b. Than thy payne began of fresshe to be renewed.

1637.  Milton, Lycidas, 192.

1639.  Fuller, Holy Warre (1647), I. xvi. 25. This sight so inspirited the Christians, that coming in on fresh they obtained a most glorious victorie.

1748.  F. Smith, Voy. Disc. N.-W. Pass., I. 9. The Fog confining our View to a very narrow Distance, and presenting continually fresh Objects.

1777.  Burke, Corr. (1844), II. 162. I read many parts of your history with that fresh concern and anxiety which attends those who are not previously informed of the event.

1798.  Malthus, Popul. (1890), 4. Very severe labour is requisite to clear a fresh country; such situations are not in general considered as particularly healthy; and the inhabitants, probably, are occasionally subject to the incursions of the Indians, which may destroy some lives, or at any rate diminish the fruits of industry.

1813.  Byron, Ch. Har., III. lv. 529.

1861.  M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 31. There are few traces of fresh research or new matter produced.

1870.  Morris, Earthly Par., I. I. 383.

1888.  Times, 12 Nov., 13/3. The untoward fate of plays that break fresh ground.

  b.  In weaker sense: Additional, another, other, different, further.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), xxii. 243. Thanne thei maken fressche men redy, to pryke forthe with the Lettres, toward the Emperour.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, xxxvii. 209. Than suld I haif a fresch feir to fang in mynn armes.

1532.  More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 675/2. In the conclusion of al that tale, he knitteth it vp with a freshe lusty poynt, and soileth al the reason in this wyse.

1613.  Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 644. In which way hauing gotten fresh helpe of some other streames.

1674.  N. Cox, Gentl. Recreat., I. (1677), 16. When the Hounds or Beagles take fresh scent, hunting another Chase; until they stick, and hit the first again, we say, they Hunt Change.

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 14, 10 May, ¶ 7. The Troops of the Allies have fresh Orders dispatched to them to move from their respective Quarters.

1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 452, 8 Aug., ¶ 2. Our Time lies heavy on our Hands till the Arrival of a fresh Mail.

1721.  Bailey, Fresh Spell … a fresh Gang to relieve the Rowers in the Long-Boat.

1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xiii. 106. Several fresh spectators were yet to see the sight.

1818.  Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), II. 198. Interest was seldom allowed to be turned into principal, except upon the advance of fresh money; and even then, it was reckoned a hardship upon the mortgagor, and an act of oppression.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 153. One fresh concession, a concession in which the Cavaliers were even more deeply interested than the Roundheads, was easily obtained from the restored king.

1896.  Law Times, C. 408/2. We must begin a fresh paragraph.

  2.  Recent; newly made, recently arrived, received, or taken in. Cf. Fr. frais.

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 5305.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 172. So þat þe wounde be freisch & not oold hurt.

1535.  Coverdale, 1 Sam. xxi. 6. There was none other bred but the shewbredes, which were taken vp before the Lorde, that there might be other freshbredes set therin the daye whan he toke them awaye.

1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl., Pref. (1845), p. xi. I was fain, for the compleating of the number, to insert here and there some of a much fresher date.

1698.  J. Fryer, A New Account of East-India and Persia, 9. This Morn by fresh Advice he was assured only six Ships were seen to ply to windward.

1704.  Swift, T. Tub, Apol. The Author was then young, his Invention at the Height, and his Reading fresh in his Head.

1748.  F. Smith, Voy. Disc. N.-W. Pass., I. 146. The Indians know in the Summer Season, whether the Beavers inhabit a House or not, by looking on the Stems of the Poplar, the upper Part, or Branches of which have been bit off, and seeing whether the Marks of their Teeth are fresh or not.

1845.  Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 16. The ministers of Ferdinand VII. could not please him more than by laying before him a fresh express or dispatch, ‘un parte,’ ‘un propio.’

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xxvii. 204. The floor of the little château in which I lodged in 1857 was covered with snow, and on it were the fresh footmarks of a little animal.

  b.  Newly come or taken from, out of.

1699.  Dampier, Voy., II. I. 31. Great yellow Frogs also are much admired, especially when they come fresh out of the Pond.

1700.  Dryden, Fables, Cock & Fox, 289.

1764.  Goldsm., The Traveller, 329.

1816.  Keatinge, Trav. (1817), I. 45. If he look for comfort to a glass of wine under his affliction, a heady mawkish production (it can hardly be called a fluid), fresh from the press, is presented to him, merely to disappoint his hopes and lips.

a. 1839.  Praed, Poems (1864), II. 209, ‘Our Ball.’

1867.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. App. 673. The narrative in Thietmar of Merseburg, which he heard when it was fresh from the lips of an Englishman named Sewald.

  c.  Law. Fresh force (AF. fresche force, Anglo-Lat. frisca fortia), fresh disseisin: = ‘novel disseisin’; see quots. and DISSEISIN 1 b. Fresh fine, pursuit, suit: one made or levied immediately or within a short prescribed interval.

[1292.  Britton, I. xix. § 6. Deforceours et purprestours par fresche force.]

1419.  Liber Albus (Rolls), I. 173. Item, de assisis Novæ Disseisinæ, vocatis ‘Fresshforce.’

1538.  Fitzherb., Just. Peas, 132 b. Upon any out crie, hute or freshesuit for any felonye.

a. 1626.  Bacon, Max. & Uses Com. Law (1636), 64, marg. But if he [the owner] make fresh pursuit, he may take his goods from the Thiefe.

1641.  Termes de la Ley, 169. An Assise or Bil of fresh force brought within 40 daies after the force committed, or title to him accrued. Ibid., 171. Fresh suit.

1670.  Blount, Law Dict., Fresh disseisin [see DISSEISIN 1 b].

1721.  Bailey, Fresh suit.

1848.  Wharton, Law Lex., Fresh-fine, a fine that had been levied within a year past.

  3.  Making one’s first acquaintance with a position, society, etc.; raw, inexperienced; unsophisticated, ‘green.’ Also (University slang), characteristic of a freshman.

1595.  Shaks., John, III. iv. 145. Pan. How green you are, and fresh in this old world?

1724.  De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 174. I doubt there will be but indifferent doings on both sides, between two armies both made up of fresh men, that have never seen any service.

1724.  R. Falconer, Voy. (1769), 11. Now the Bottles and Pounds that accrue from the People that are not willing to be duck’d, in passing the Tropick, are reserv’d by the old Sailors for a merry Bout, when safe in Harbour, which must not be touch’d by the fresh Men, as they call ’em.

1814.  E. S. Barrett, Heroine, III. 9. If I don’t tell the coach-maker what a fresh one he was, to give you his barouche on tick, may I be particularly horsewhipt!

1826.  Disraeli, Viv. Grey, IV. v. Did you ever fight a duel? No! nor send a challenge either? Well! you are fresh, indeed!

1834.  Oxf. Univ. Mag., I. 101. It is very fresh to walk about in academic costume with a stick in his hand.

1856.  Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xix. 237. He was a perfectly fresh man, not having yet undertaken a journey.

  II.  Having the signs of newness.

  4.  Of perishable articles of food, etc.: New, in contradistinction to being artificially preserved; (of meat) not salted, pickled, or smoked; (of butter) without salt; (of fruits, etc.) not dried or preserved in sugar or the like.

  α.  901–9.  Charter of Eadweard, in Cod. Dipl., V. 164. Tu rieðeru oðer sealt oðer fersc.

  β.  1388.  Wyclif, Num. vi 3. Thei schulen not ete freisch grapis and drie [uvas recentes siccasve].

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 347. Adipis porci antiqui sine sale id est freisch swynys grese molten.

c. 1460.  J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 630.

c. 1483.  Caxton, Vocab., 5.

1541.  Act 33 Hen. VIII., c. 2. No … person … shall … by anie freshe fyshe of anie estraunger in … Flaunders.

1620.  Venner, Via Recta, v. 91. There is made a kinde of Iuncket, called in most places a Fresh-Cheese, which is very pleasant to the pallate, and of easie concoction.

1648.  Gage, West Ind., xix. 143. They will buy … a Riall worth of fresh meat to eat on the Lords day.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 364.

1811.  A. T. Thomson, Lond. Disp. (1818), 606. For making decoctions, the substances employed must be divided, if in the dry state, by pulverization, or, if fresh, by slicing, so as to expose an extended surface to the action of the water.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 314. During several months, even the gentry tasted scarcely any fresh animal food, except game and river fish.

1864.  Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., III. 234. As a specimen of the waste, figure three pounds of fresh butter at twenty pence a pound regularly consumed in the kitchen.

  absol.  c. 1330.  Arth. & Merl., 7291.

  ¶ b.  (See quot.) Obs. rare^–1. (Perh. some error.)

1530.  Palsgr., 313/1. Fresshe or lussyouse as meate that is nat well seasoned, or hath an unplesante swetnesse in it, fade.

  5.  Of water: Not salt or bitter; fit for drinking. † Also of a marsh: Containing fresh as opposed to salt water; watered by a river (obs.).

  [A Com. Teut. sense: prob. an extension of the notion ‘without salt’ as applied to meat (sense 4).]

  α.  c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., II. iv. § 6. [Eufrates] is mæst eallra ferscra wætera.

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 316/595.

  β.  1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIII. xxii. (1495), 455. For cause of … fresshe waters that come therto the see … is more fresshe.

c. 1440.  Jacob’s Well (E.E.T.S.), 39. Of fysschyng of freschwatyr & of salt watyr þe tythe owȝte to be payed.

c. 1450.  Life of St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 2224. A fresche well was þer besyde.

1553.  Eden, Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.), 26. In this deserte are often tymes founde bytter waters: but more often fresshe and sweete waters.

1576.  Act 18 Eliz., c. 10 § 10. No Acre of fresh Marsh … [shall] be taxed above the Rate of a Penny … nor of every ten Acres of salt Marsh above the Rate of a Penny.

1582.  N. Lichefield, trans. Castanheda’s Conq. E. Ind., vii. 19. Our men quietly landed and tooke in fresh water.

1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., III. iv. 419. Tempests are kinde, and salt waues fresh in loue.

1670.  D. Denton, Descr. New York (1845), 19. These woods also every mile or half-mile are furnished with fresh ponds, brooks or rivers, where all sorts of Cattel, during the heat of the day, do quench their thirst and cool themselves.

a. 1691.  Boyle, Hist. Air (1692), 154. He always found the Ice fresh that floated upon the Sea-Water.

1697.  Dampier, Voy., I. iii. 34. Sometimes we find them [Manatees] in salt Water, sometimes in fresh; but never far at Sea.

1708.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4489/3, 119. Acres of fresh Marsh-Lands.

1775.  Romans, Hist. Florida, 267. Another river called spruce creek; it is very rich in fresh marsh, the ground being greatly broken at its mouth.

1800.  trans. Lagrange’s Chem., II. 235. Throwing into large quantities of pure fresh water a few drops of volatile oil.

1878.  Huxley, Physiography, 73. The great stream of fresh water which flows over Teddington Weir is fed, in large measure, by vapour which has been raised far away on the Atlantic.

  b.  Of or pertaining to such water. † Of fish = FRESHWATER a.

1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 1.

1467.  in Eng. Gilds (1870), 396. Fresshe fysshe, as Tenches, Pykes.

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., III. i. 128. Till the fresh taste be taken from that cleerenes, And made a brine pit with our bitter teares.

1608–11.  Bp. Hall, Medit. & Vowes, i. § 8. I have oft wondred howe fishes can retaine their fresh taste, and yet live in salt waters.

1881.  J. Payn, Humorous Stories, 294–5. The occupation of this deceiver [the professional fisherman], whether he be salt or fresh, would have gone long since, but for some benevolent arrangement (a monopoly instituted by Nature for his sole behoof,) through which mankind is rendered blind to his shallow arts, and the experience of his perfidy profits us nothing.

  6.  Untainted, pure; hence, possessed of active properties; invigorating, refreshing. Said esp. of air and water.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 11704 (Trin.).

1393.  Gower, Conf., III. 16.

14[?].  Tundale’s Vis., 1070.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. xxii. 1. The Lorde is my shepherde, I can wante nothinge. He fedeth me in a grene pasture, and ledeth me to a fresh water.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., IV. iii. 45.

1648.  Gage, West Ind., xvii. 117. A fruit named Xocotte … it is fresh and cooling.

1667.  Milton, P. L., I. 771.

1692.  Ray, Dissol. World, 82. The inferiour Air at least is so charged with them, and by that means so very moist, that in some places their Knives rust even in their Pockets; and in the Night, so very fresh and cold, partly also by reason of the length of the Nights; that exposing the Body to it, causes Colds and Catarrhs and is very dangerous.

1749.  Berkeley, Word to Wise, Wks. III. 440. Planting and tilling the earth is an exercise not less pleasing than useful; it takes the peasant from his smoky cabin into the fresh air and the open field, rendering his lot far more desirable than that of the sluggard, who lies in the straw, or sits whole days by the fire.

1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, xxxii. The desire of fresh air … had carried her into the the small garden.

1855.  Bain, The Senses and the Intellect, II. ii. § 7. Fresh odours, those that have an action akin to pure air, or coolness in the midst of excessive heat; an action mainly respiratory, or tending to increase the activity of the lungs, and with that the physical energy of the system.

  † b.  Cool; see COOL a. 1 and 1 d. Cf. Fr. frais.

  In Romanic langs. a very prominent sense; rare in Eng.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), iv. 29. Thei make Dyches in the Erthe alle aboute in the Halle, depe to the Knee, and thei do pave hem: and whan thei wil ete, thei gon there in and sytten there. And the Skylle is, for thei may ben the more fressche.

1412–20.  Lydgate, Chronicle of Troy, II. xi.

1580.  J. Frampton, Monarde’s Dial. of Yron & Steele, 150. The Porche of the dore is verye freshe.

1697.  Dampier, Voy., I. v. 108. Here is constantly a fresh Sea breeze all Day, and cooling refreshing winds in the Night.

  7.  Retaining its original qualities; not deteriorated or changed by lapse of time; not stale, musty, or vapid. † Formerly often reduplicated fresh and fresh (cf. ‘hot and hot’).

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 36. Þe blode was boþe warme & fresh, þat of þe schankes lete.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 352. An oynement, & whanne it is maad, al freisch leie it þerto, for þe more freisch þat it is þe bettir it is.

1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot., III. 351.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. xci[i]. 10. But my horne shalbe exalted like the horne of an Vnicorne, & shal be anoynted with fresh oyle.

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. (1586), 158 b. See that their nestes bee very cleane, and kept still with freshe cleane strawe.

1632.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 128. Having restored me with fresh egges.

1699.  Dampier, Voy., II. III. 55. The other Fish we took as we had occasion fresh and fresh.

1805.  Dibdin, in Naval Chron., XIII. 395. Burton ale—fresh or stale.

1823.  Lamb, Elia, Distant Correspondents. One drops a packet at Lombard Street, and in twenty-four hours a friend in Cumberland gets it as fresh as if it came in ice.

1850.  Lyell, 2nd Visit U. S., xxx. II. 181. Near the bottom was a layer of leaves, resembling those of the bay, with numerous roots of trees and wood in a fresher state than I ever saw them in any tertiary formation.

1859.  G. Wilson, Gateways Knowl. (ed. 3), 71. The undecaying mammoth remains fresh as on the day of its death a thousand years ago, when it was entombed in a glacier.

  b.  transf. of immaterial things.

14[?].  Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 233. Trewloue is fress & euere neu.

1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 452, 8 Aug., ¶ 5. By this means my Readers will have their News fresh and fresh.

1758.  Johnson, Idler, No. 14, 15 July, ¶ 6. To be seen in good company, to talk of familiarities with men of power, to be able to tell the freshest news.

1802.  Syd. Smith, Wks. (1859), I. 6/1. It is only by the fresh feelings of the heart that mankind can be very powerfully affected.

1855.  Kingsley, Westw. Ho! (1861), 350. The genial smile of English mirth fresh on every lip.

  8.  Not faded or worn; unfading, unobliterated. Said both of material and immaterial things.

c. 1384.  Chaucer, H. Fame, III. 66.

1576.  A. Fleming, A Panoplie of Epistles, 303 note. Wee might still haue them, by continual view of their pictures, in freshe remembrance.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., II. i. 68. Gon. Me thinkes, our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Affricke.

1611.  Bible, Job xxix. 20. My glory was fresh in mee, and my bow was renewed in my hand.

1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 365. These Roses will retaine, not onely their Smell Perfect, but their Colour fresh, for a yeere at least.

1631.  Gouge, God’s Arrows, in. lxxvi. 326. By such memorials the memory of Gods mercies is kept fresh: thereby men are the more, and oftner provoked to praise God for them.

1641.  J. Jackson, True Evang. T., I. 69. These antipathies, and jarres do still remaine amongst the creatures as fresh, as if Adam had but falne yesterday or to day.

1711.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4867/4. The Small Pox fresh upon him.

1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., VI. § 27. From the first Century onwards, there was never wanting the testimony of such Men, who wrote learnedly in defence of the Christian Religion, who lived, many of them, when the memory of things was fresh, who had abilities to judge and means to know, and who gave the clearest proofs of their conviction and sincerity.

1837.  Disraeli, Venetia, II. i. Not an incident of her earliest childhood that was not as fresh in her memory as if it had occurred yesterday.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 447. Samuel Pepys, whose library and diary have kept his name fresh to our time.

  9.  Not sullied or tarnished; bright and pure in color; blooming, gay.

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., Prologue, 92.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 997. He [Iason] hade fongit þe flese & þe fresshe gold.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Thistle & Rose, 55.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 74. Flourysshe the forenoone neuer so fresshe, at the last commeth the euentyde.

1551.  T. Wilson, Logike (1580), 3. Rethorique vseth gay paincted Sentences, and setteth furth those matters with fresh colours and goodly ornamentes.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 1039.

1749.  F. Smith, Voy. Disc. N.-W. Pass., II. 28. The Green of the Pine which had a brownish Cast, and was lifeless all the Winter, now looked fresh and pleasant.

1797.  M. Baillie, Morb. Anat. (1807), 37. He never had a fresh complexion, but it was always dark, or tending to black.

1801.  Southey, Thalaba, III. xxxvii.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xxv. 177. The colouring of the bilberry-leaves was scarcely less exquisite than the freshest bloom of the Alpine rose.

  b.  Of personal appearance: Blooming, looking healthy or youthful. Often fresh and fair; also in proverbial phrases fresh as paint, as a rose, etc.

c. 138S.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 1191, Dido. An huntyng wolde this lusti fresche queene.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VIII. x. 29.

1585.  Abp. Sandys, Serm., xv. 267. The freshest Gospeller in appearance, in experience is found not to be the soundest.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. v. 29.

1635.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Banish’d Virg., 94. This Lady being the greatest Princesse of that Countrey was a widow fresh and faire, and a mother of two sonnes.

1800–24.  Campbell, Poems, Ritter Bann, iv.

1815.  E. S. Barrett, Heroine, III. 81. When rescued from captivity, forth they walked, glittering like the morning star; as fragrant as a lily, and as fresh as an oyster. Ibid., III. 155. Sure your ladyship has often read of blood upon floors, and daggers, that looked as fresh as a daisy, at the end of centuries.

1877.  Mrs. Oliphant, Makers Flor., vi. 172. Might not the whole narrative have come out of the last century, when the fresh country ladies had to be warned against spoiling their natural roses with paint.

1881.  Dr. Gheist, 216. He is a decayed gentleman-farmer—not truly as to his bodily vigour, for though nearly seventy years of age, he is still hale and ‘fresh as paint,’ but only as to his means.

1885.  W. H. Russell, The Prince of Wales at Sandringham, in Harper’s Mag., LXX. April, 763/2. [They] who … see him emerge from his carriage, after a long journey, ‘fresh as a rose,’ little think of the trouble and care which have produced the result so pleasant to their eyes.

  † c.  Gaily attired, finely dressed. Obs.

c. 1440.  Generydes, 2036.

c. 1460.  Paston Lett., No. 437, II. 86. Perys of Legh come to Lynne opon Cristynmesse Even in the fresshest wise.

1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, C iij. It is gretter honour to me to aray & make me fresshe for them.

1530.  Palsgr., 623/2. My maystresse maketh her fresshe, I wene she go out to some feest to daye.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, lxviii. 235. They rose & apparelled them in fresshe arraye.

1577–87.  Holinshed, Chron., III. 807/2. With manie a fresh gentleman riding before them.

  10.  Not exhausted or fatigued; full of vigor and energy; brisk, vigorous, active. † Of a country: Of unexhausted fertility.

  α.  1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 397.

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 3633. A fersche ost hem to help · hastili þer come.

  β.  c. 1205.  Lay., 9418.

c. 1300.  K. Alis., 2403.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 103. Þe kyng a seknes hent, þe dede him tok alle fresse.

c. 1400.  Melayne, 1528.

c. 1450.  Merlin, 108. Kynge Aguysas of Scotlonde, that was a freisshe yonge knyght, and with hym v C knyghtes.

1533.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cccxxxix. 532. They were nat strong ynough to abyde them that were fresshmen, for theymselfe were sore traueyled by reason of the long siege.

1538.  Starkey, England, I. i. 26. The mornyng, when our wyttys be most redy and fresch.

1632.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 21. He mounted first on the one fresh horse, and afterwards upon the other, posting on.

1648.  Gage, West Ind., xiii. 74. This Country is very fresh and plentifull.

1843.  G. P. R. James, Forest Days, v. Take with you three of your fellows whose horses are the freshest.

1863.  Miss Braddon, J. Marchmont, II. i. 3. I never felt fresher in my life.

1882.  Daily Tel., 3 Jan. Ignition is probably the freshest of all the veterans.

  absol.  1594.  Daniel, Compl. Rosamond, cii.

  † b.  Recruited, refreshed, rested. Obs.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, vii. 162. Whan thei shall be fresshe, thenne shall ye mow make werre atte your wyll.

1700.  Dryden, Theod. & Honoria, 186.

  † 11.  Ready, eager. Const. to, also to with inf.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 6347.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 18060 (Fairf.).

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1254.

1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., I. i. 3.

  † b.  Ready to eat or drink; having an appetite or inclination. Also, fresh and fasting. Obs.

1613.  Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 840. When they kill a man, paint themselues with a fruit called Ianipano, and with feathers on their heads, great stones in their lips, Rattles in their hands, dance three dayes together, drinking a filthy liquor, whereto they said Tobacco made them fresh.

1698.  J. Fryer, A New Account of East-India and Persia, 92. They are almost poysoned with Vermin and Nastiness; but surely they take delight in it, for they will fresh and fasting besprinkle themselves with the Stale of a Cow, as you behold a good Christian with Holy-water.

  12.  Of the wind: Having considerable force, strong; † formerly, springing up again (obs.). Hence, of the ‘way’ of a ship: Speedy, steady. Also quasi-adv. in to blow fresh. Cf. Fr. frais.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, lxi. 213. They weyed vp theyr ancres, & lyft vp theyr saylles & so had a good freshe wynde.

1582.  N. Lichefield, trans. Castanheda’s Conq. E. Ind., xxvi. 66. Vppon a sodayne there came a fresh gale of Winde, with the which the Fleete might goe forwarde.

1627.  Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., x. 46. A fresh Gale is that doth presently blow after a calme, when the wind beginneth to quicken or blow.

1659.  D. Pell, Impr. Sea, 322. It is a long time ere a ship can bee put upon the stayes when shee has her freshest way.

1686.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2181/4. The Wind blowing very fresh … forced into the Downs a Dutch Man of War.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, I. x. I kept on steering directly for the Island, tho’ not making such fresh Way as I did before.

1766.  A. Brice, in Phil. Trans., LVI. 226. One-third of this, or 21 miles nearly, shows the velocity of the wind on May the 6th, when it blew a fresh gale.

1805.  Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp. (1846), VII. 77–8. If it comes on to blow fresh I shall make the signal for Boats to repair on board, when the Transports must keep to windward. I shall lay to patiently.

1878.  Jevons, Prim. Pol. Econ., 29. The miller grinds corn when the breeze is fresh, or the stream full.

  13.  With regard to the use of drink, in two opposite senses: a. Sober. Now only Sc. b. Exhilarated by drink; partially intoxicated; ‘half seas over.’

  a.  c. 1425.  Seven Sag. (P.), 1226.

1628.  W. Yonge, Diary, 113. [They] daily drank healths a shipboard, and the Lord Denbigh scarce fresh any day after the morning.

1822.  Scott, Pirate, xxiv. ‘There is our great Udaller is weel eneugh when he is fresh, but he makes ower mony voyages in his ship and his yawl to be lang sae.’

  b.  1812.  Sporting Mag., XL. July, 174/1. On his return home, rather fresh, threw down the horse and broke his knees.

1829.  Marryat, F. Mildmay, II. iii. 74. I could get ‘fresh,’ as we call it, when in good company and excited by wit and mirth; but I never went to the length of being drunk.

1849.  C. Brontë, Shirley, iii. 31. For my notion was, they were all fresh.

  14.  Sc. and north. dial. Of the weather: a. Open, not frosty. b. Wet.

1782.  Sir J. Sinclair, Observ. Sc. Dial., 49. Fresh weather. Open weather.

1790.  Grose, Prov. Gloss. (ed. 2), s.v. How’st’ weather to-day? Why fresh; i. e. it rains.

1795.  Statist. Acc. Scotl., Stirlings., XV. 319, note. Our winters, on the other hand, have been open and fresh, as it is termed.

1827.  Sporting Mag., XX. Sept., 363/1. Symptoms appeared of what is called in Durham ‘fresh weather,’ alias rain.

1880.  Daily News, 29 Dec., 2/1. There were indications of fresh weather…. The fresh became less marked.

  15.  Comb., as fresh-looking, † fresh-new adjs. Chiefly parasynthetic, as fresh-coloured, -complexioned, -faced, -hearted, (-heartedness), -leaved, † -looked, † -suited, -tinctured adjs. Similar fresh-button, -skin vbs., fresh-dooring vbl. sb.

1771.  Foote, Maid of B., I. Wks. 1799, II. 213. To turn the lace, and *fresh-button the suit his Honour made up twenty years ago.

1607.  Bp. Hall, Medit. & Vowes, i. § 24. *Fresh coloured wares, if they bee often opened, lose their brightnesse, and are soyled with much handling.

1848.  Dickens, Dombey, xxxi. A modest young man, with a fresh-coloured face.

1686.  Lond. Gaz., 2156/4. A Girl of about 11 years of Age … light brown hair, and *fresh Complectioned.

1892.  E. Reeves, Homeward Bound, 117. A … fresh-complexioned, quiet, fair man.

1824.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. II. (1863), 250. Could I so utterly forget the great doings on the top of the hill, where, by dint of whitening, sash-windowing and *fresh-dooring, the old ample farm-house has become a very genteel-looking residence?

1862.  H. Marryat, Year in Sweden, II. 354. *Fresh-faced girls sit knitting by their myrtles.

1837.  Hawthorne, Twice-told T. (1851), II. viii. 123. ‘But I,’ cried the *fresh-hearted New Year, ‘I shall try to leave men wiser than I find them.’

1870.  Illustr. Lond. News, 29 Oct., 438. The *fresh-heartedness, generosity, and heroism which seagoing has a manifest aptitude to nourish.

1657.  Cokaine, Obstinate Lady, I. i.

1714.  Lond. Gaz., No. 5249/4. One William Williams, a *fresh look’d Boy.

1848.  H. Rogers, Ess. (1860), III. 314. Some of it the *fresh-looking masonry of yesterday.

1608.  Shaks., Per., III. i. 41. This *fresh-new sea-farer.

1836.  E. Howard, Rattlin, the Reefer, xxii. I had *fresh skinned myself, and it took me more than a week to do it.

1638.  Ford, Fancies, I. iii. Enter Livio, *fresh suited.

a. 1743.  Savage, Lady Tyrconnel, 43.

  B.  adv.

  1.  In a fresh manner, freshly (see senses of the adj.); newly; † clearly; † eagerly; † gaily; † strongly. † Also Law, immediately.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 190. Y-clothed was she fresh, for to devyse.

c. 1420.  Anturs of Arth., iv. Fresche thay folo the fare.

c. 1470.  Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, VIII. 1421.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, lxxxvii. 25.

1523.  Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 38.

1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. ii. 188.

1622.  Crt. & Times Jas. I. (1849), II. 336. Speak fresh that way.

a. 1626.  Bacon, Max. & Uses Com. Law (1636), 64. If fresh after the goods were stolne, the true Owner maketh pursuit after the Thiefe and goods, and taketh the goods with the Thiefe, he may take them again.

1676.  Lady Chaworth, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 29. There is 4 pound of them [comfits] and made fresh for you of the purest sugar.

1690.  T. Burnet, The Theory of the Earth, I. 36. If we had seen the Mountains when they were new born and raw, when the Earth was fresh-broken, and the waters of the Deluge newly retir’d, the fractions and confusions of them would have appear’d very gastly and frightful.

1709.  trans. Poncet’s Voy. Æthiopia, 11. This [thick Beer] being bad to keep, they are forc’d to make it Fresh, almost every Hour.

1737.  Whiston, Josephus’ Hist., I. xiv. § 4. Anthony … remembering very fresh the wars he had gone through together with his father.

1747.  Wesley, Prim. Physic (1762), 107. To cure the Tooth-ach.… A Piece of Plantane-root, fresh digg’d up, and washed.

1777.  Sheridan, Sch. Scand., II. ii. Mrs. Can. She has a charming fresh colour. Lady T. Yes, when it is fresh put on.

  2.  Comb. chiefly with pres. and pa. pples., as fresh-armed, -baked, -bleeding, -blooming, -blowing, -blown, -boiled, -born, -breaking, -caught, -coined, -comer, -cropt, -drawn, -fallen, -forged, -killed, -made, -quilted, -rankling, -rubbed, -slaughtered, -thrashed, -thrown, -turned, -watered; fresh-run a., (a fish, esp. a salmon) that has lately run up from the sea.

1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 379. Ane new *fresche armit gard.

1849–52.  R. B. Todd, The Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology, IV. 844/2. In ague, the odour of *fresh-baked brown bread is said to pass from the skin.

1718.  Pope, Iliad, XV. 698.

1735.  Somerville, The Chace, II. 110.

1671.  Milton, Samson, 10. The breath of Heav’n *fresh-blowing, pure and sweet. Ibid. (1632), L’Allegro, 22. *Fresh-blown Roses washt in dew.

1833.  Marryat, P. Simple (1863), 243. My steward used to shove her up the companion-ladder just in the same way, with his head completely buried in her petticoats. As soon as she was up, he used to pull his head out, looking as red and hot as a *fresh-boiled lobster.

1708.  J. Philips, Cyder, II. 436.

1817.  Byron, Manfred, I. ii.

1852.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xx. You ’re always preaching about educating. I thought I would make you a present of a *fresh-caught specimen, and let you try your hand on her, and bring her up in the way she should go.

1785.  Crabbe, Newspaper, 82.

1890.  Spectator, 4 Oct., 433/2. Now, universal suffrage in Victoria and New Zealand throws the final political authority among a large and shifting mass of ignorant beings, who are constantly being recruited by *fresh-comers from England and elsewhere.

1777.  Potter, Æschylus’ Supplicants, 90.

1872.  Lever, Lord Kilgobbin, lv. He held out a *fresh-drawn cork at the end of the screw.

1885.  J. F. Main, The Upper Engadine in Winter, in Fortn. Rev., XXXVII. 1 Feb. 170. No doubt the thawing of *fresh-fallen snow is not pleasant.

1856.  R. A. Vaughan, Mystics (1860), I. 171. A.D. 1339. January.—The new year opens gloomily. With out loss of time, *fresh-forged anathemas are come, and coming, against the outspoken emperor and this troublesome Germany.

1700.  S. L., trans. C. Fryke’s Voy. E. Ind., 238. The Women among these Hottentots have a different Ornament from the Men, which is the Gutts of their Cattle *fresh killed.

1648.  Herrick, Hesper., ‘Corinna’s going a Maying’ (1869), 69.

1763.  J. Brown, Poetry & Mus., vi. 100. If any hath a keen and inward Grief, *fresh-rankling in his Soul; the Bard, the Muses Minister, no sooner sings the Praise of ancient Heroes, and the Gods who inhabit OLYMPUS, than he forgets his Sorrows, and feels no more his Anguish.

1896.  Daily News, 2 April, 8/5. It had a *fresh-rubbed sore under the collar.

1863.  Kingsley, Water Bab., 83. As clean as a *fresh-run salmon.

1718.  Pope, Iliad, XVI. 196.

1883.  Goole Weekly Times, 7 Sept., 2/6. Very little *fresh-thrashed wheat has been marketed during the past week.

1821.  Keats, Isabella, xlvi.

1777.  Warton, First of April, 29.

1535.  Coverdale, Isa. lviii. 11. Thou shalt be like a *freshwatred garden, and like the founteyne of water, that neuer leaueth runnynge.

1744.  Akenside, Pleas. Imag., II. 365.

  C.  sb.¹

  1.  [The adj. used absol. passing into a sb.] The fresh part or period (of a day, year, etc.).

1715.  Jane Barker, Exilius, II. 22. They went to divert themselves in a cool Walk, during the fresh of the Morning.

a. 1734.  North, Lives (1826), I. 191–2. His lordship’s great labour was to get time to be instructed well in causes of great consequence, as trials at the bar, and hearings in Chancery; and, for that work, he took the fresh of the morning.

1883.  Holme Lee, Loving & Serving, I. xv. 288. In the fresh of the morning it [a walk] is the greatest delight!

1889.  Lowell, Lett. (1894), II. 381. How the robins and some other little minstrels whose names I don’t know keep on pretending it is the fresh of the year.

  2.  A rush of water or increase of the stream in a river; a freshet, flood. Also, a flood of fresh water flowing into the sea; esp. an ebb tide, whose force is increased by heavy rains. Freq. in pl.

1538.  Leland, Itin., III. 136. Lichet Village and an Arme out of Pole Water beting with a litle fresch.

c. 1682.  J. Collins, Making of Salt in Eng., 10. Sometimes there are great freshes in the River of Tyne, which impair and weaken the Sea-water, but at such times they do not admit the Sea Liquor into their Ponds.

1698.  J. Fryer, A New Account of East-India and Persia, 25. We met with the Freshes off the Shore caused by the Upland Rains: The Sea despising to defile its purer Azure with their Muddy Green.

1749.  F. Smith, Voy. Disc. N.-W. Pass., II. 31. And the Freshes or Landwaters, the Snow being mostly dissolved, very much abated.

1764.  Phil. Trans., LIV. 83. The officers observed the king’s boat to float suddenly, which they attributed to a great fresh coming.

1787.  M. Cutler, in Life, Jrnls. & Corr. (1888), II. 401. The high freshes, from February to April, and frequently in October and November, will bear a vessel of any burden over the rapids, in their present state, and out to sea.

1848.  S. W. Williams, Middle Kingdom, I. i. 17–8. The banks are not so low as to be injured or overflown to any great extent by the freshes.

  b.  A sudden increase (of wind); a gust, squall.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, I. iii. If I should be taken with a Fresh of Wind I might neither reach one or other.

1823.  Scoresby, Jrnl. Whale Fishery, 23. In the afternoon we had a fresh of wind.

  3.  A pool, spring or stream of fresh water.

1571.  Hanmer, Chron. Irel. (1633), 63. A small fresh or brooke that falleth into the Nure.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., III. ii. 75.

1612.  Capt. Smith, Map Virginia, 13. It [Tockawhoughe] groweth like a flagge in low muddy freshes.

1791.  Cowper, Iliad, II. 950.

1817.  Keats, Lett., Wks. 1889, III. 53. I see Carisbrooke Castle from my window, and have found several delightful wood-alleys, and copses, and quiet freshes.

  4.  A freshwater stream running out into a tide-way; the part of a tidal river next above the salt water; also, the land or lands adjoining this part. Freq. in pl. Now U.S.

1634.  Relat. Ld. Baltimore’s Plantat. (1865), 11–2. It runs vp to the North about 20 miles before it comes to the fresh.

1658.  R. Franck, North. Mem. (1694), 173. Here the Salmon relinquish the Salts because by the Porposses pursued up the Freshes.

1683.  W. Penn, Wks. (1782), IV. 313. The Swedes [inhabit] the freshes of the river Delaware. Ibid., Let. to North, in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem., I. 412. We are one hundred and thirty miles from the main sea, and forty miles up the freshes.

1686.  Laws of Maryland (1765), ii. At Pile’s Fresh, on both Sides of the said Fresh.

1689.  Banister, Virginia, in Phil. Trans., XVII. 668. I have sent you what Muscles our Freshes afford.

1693.  J. Clayton, Acc. Virginia, in Misc. Cur. (1708), III. 297. In the Freshes they more rarely are troubled with the Seasonings.

1705.  Beverley, Hist. Virginia, II. ii. 6. By running up into the Freshes with the Ship or Vessel during the Five or Six Weeks, that the Worm is thus above Water. Ibid., iii. 11. There are Mawborn Hills in the Freshes of James River.

1708.  Oldmixon, Brit. Empire Amer., I. 151. This part of the Delaware is call’d the Freshes.

1896.  P. A. Bruce, Econ. Hist. Virginia, I. 500, note. His plantation of one hundred and fifty acres, which was situated in the freshes of Rappahannock River.