Forms: Inf. 4–7 frett(e, (5 freett, 6 freat), 5– fret. Pa. t. 5 fret. Pa. pple. 4–7 fret(t(e, (5 freit, freyt), 4–5 frettet, -it, -ut, 4– fretted. Also pa. pple. 4 ifreted. [Perh. represents several distinct but cognate words. In part this word seems to be a. OF. freter (used in pa. pple. frete, = Anglo-Lat. frectatus, frictatus, frestatus, in the sense ‘ornamented with interlaced work, embroidered with gold, etc.,’ also Her. ‘fretty’), f. frete: see FRET sb.1 In the architectural sense it agrees with FRETISH v.2; the two forms may be adoptions of the two stems of the OF. vb. *fraitir, fraitiss-. There may also have been an independent English formation on FRET sb.1
The common view, that fret represents OE. frætw(i)an, to adorn, seems inadmissible phonologically; but it is possible that the OE. vb., though not recorded after the 12th c., may have survived in speech, and have been confused with the Romanic vb.]
† 1. trans. To adorn with interlaced work, esp. in gold or silver embroidery; in wider sense, to adorn richly with gold, silver, or jewels. Obs.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1476. Fyoles fretted with flores & fleeȝ of golde.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 9107.
| And of other stanes of gret prys, | |
| With fyne gold wyre alle obout frett. |
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. II. 11. Fetislich hir fyngres were fretted with golde wyre.
c. 1400. Beryn, 3925.
| The second brouȝt a swerd I-shethid, with seynture | |
| I-freted all with perelis orient & pure. |
c. 1450. Golagros & Gaw., 318. Frenyeis of fyne silk, fretit ful fre.
1494. Fabyan, Chron. IV. lxix. 48. The Emperour … garnysshed the Crosse with many riche stones freit with golde.
a. 1529. Skelton, Image Hypocr., 375.
| Curtle, cope, and gowne, | |
| More worthe then halfe a towne, | |
| With golde and perle sett, | |
| And stones well iffrett. |
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 815/1. Ladies all in white and red silke, set vpon coursers trapped in the same sute, freated ouer with gold. Ibid., 857/1. The quire of the said chappell sieled with cloth of gold, and thereon fret ingrailed bent clothes of silke.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, IX. lxxxii. 175.
| And brauing in his Turkish pompe he shone, | |
| In purple robe ore fret with gold and stone. |
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 74. He could if it had pleased him, haue fretted (as it were) the whole volume of the booke with excellencie of words.
a. 1668. Davenant, Masque, Wks. (1670), 191. To eternize the memory of that great example of Matrimonial union which he derives from hence, hath on his Bed-chamber door and seeling, fretted with Stars in capital letter, engraven the Inscription of C A R L O-M A R I A.
b. transf. To variegate, chequer, form a pattern upon.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., II. i. 104.
| Yon grey Lines, | |
| That fret the Clouds, are Messengers of Day. |
1839. Longf., Hyperion, III. 1. (1853), 142. White clouds sail aloft; and vapours fret the blue sky with silver threads.
2. Arch. To adorn (esp. a ceiling) with carved or embossed work in decorative patterns.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., II. iv. 88.
| Iach. The Roofe o’th Chamber, | |
| With golden Cherubins is fretted. |
1615. Sir R. Boyle, Diary (1886), I. 66. I compounded with my plaiserer to ffrett my parlor.
1667. Pepys, Diary (1879), IV. 322. To the Duke of York’s chamber, which, as it is now fretted at the top, and the chimney-piece made handsome, is one of the noblest and best-proportioned rooms that ever, I think, I saw.
1853. C. Kingsley, Hypatia, xix. 218. Against the walls stood presses and chests fretted with fantastic Oriental carving.
transf. and fig. 1602. Shaks., Ham., II. ii. 313. This Maiesticall Roofe, fretted with golden fire.
1655. Fuller, The Church-History of Britain, VI. v. 336. Simple ignorance not fretted & embossed with malice, or affected hatred to learning, caused that desolation of Libraries in England.
1729. Savage, Wanderer, I. 40.
| The solar Fires now faint, and watry burn, | |
| Just where with Ice Aquarius frets his Urn! |
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 559. In your progress [in the cave] pass through a number of passages and apartments of various dimensions, some low and narrow, others high and spacious, vaulted by magnificent canopies, fretted with a variety of depending petrifactions, some of which are drawn to a great length by means of the constant exudation and accretion of petrifying matter, till solid pillars have gradually formed.
1842. H. Miller, The Old Red Sandstone, viii. (ed. 2), 170. Its shelly armour was delicately fretted with the forms of circular or elliptical scales.
3. Her. To interlace.
1572. Bossewell, Armorie, II. 121 b. Hee beareth Or, a Lyon rampaunt d’Ermine, debrused with two Barruletes, & fret with the thirde Sable.
1838–40. Berry, Encycl. Her., I. Fretting each other, interlacing each other.
