Forms: 3–6, 9 arch. frere, 3–5 frer, 5–6 freer(e, 6. Sc. freir, (freyr), 6 freare, freaȝour, frir, 6–7 fryer, 6–8 frier, fryar, 9 Sc. dial. freer, freir, 5, 7– friar. [ME. frere, a. OF. frere (mod.F. frère), earlier fredre:—Lat. frātrem, BROTHER.
In Fr. and Pr. the words for brother and friar are the same; in the other Rom. langs. they are different. It. frate (as a prefixed title fra) is ad. L. frāter; Sp. fraile (as prefix fray), earlier fraire, is ad. Pr. fraire, regularly repr. L. frātrem: Pg. has frei from the Sp. fray.
For the change of frere into friar, cf. quire (= choir) from quere, briar from brere, entire from entere.]
† 1. = BROTHER, in fig. applications; esp. in OFr. phrase beu frere ‘fair brother.’ Obs.
c. 1290. Beket, 1348, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 145. ‘Certes, beu frere,’ quat þe pope: ‘I-nelle nouȝt take on so.’
c. 1290. St. Brendan, 121, Ibid., 223.
| ‘Beau freres,’ quaþ seint brendan: ‘ȝe neþore noþing drede: | |
| Ich wot þis is a messager: þe riȝte wei ous to lede.’ |
c. 1330. Amis and Amiloun, 17.
| And how yong the[y] become frere, | |
| In courte whereas thei were. |
c. 1530. Hickscorner, E ij.
| What Frewyll myne owne frere | |
| Arte thou out of thy minde. |
1821. Joanna Baillie, Met. Leg., Lady Griseld Baillie, xix.
| While into napkin’d lap she’s sliding | |
| Her portion, oft renew’d, and hiding, | |
| Beneath the board, her store; amazing | |
| Her jealous Frere, oft on her gazing. |
2. In the Roman Cath. Ch.: A brother or member of one of certain religious orders founded in the 13th c. and afterwards, of which the chief were the four mendicant orders: the Franciscans († Friars minors, Minorites, or Grey Friars); the Augustines (Austin Friars); the Dominicans (Friars Preachers, Black Friars); and the Carmelites († Frirs carims = F. frères carmes; White Friars).
c. 1290. Beket, 1170, in S. Eng. Leg. I. 140.
| With one haltre ope þe mere forth rod þis holi man | |
| As þei it were a frere, and let him cleopie frere cristian. |
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 10105.
| & þer after the werste zer | |
| Þe ordre bigan of frere prechors. |
a. 1310. in Wright’s, Lyric P., xxxix. 110. He leneth on is forke ase a grey frere.
c. 1315. Poem Times Edw. II., 163, in Pol. Songs (Camden), 331. And freres of the Carme, and of Seint Austin.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxxi. 139. Þare was in oure company twa frere meneours of Lumbardy.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 7461.
| So been Augustins and Cordileres, | |
| And Carmes, and eek Sakked Freres. |
c. 1460. Towneley Myst. (Surtees), 91.
| Primus Paster. Geder up, lo, lo, | |
| Ye hungre begers frerys. |
c. 1500. God speed the Plough, 55. Then commeth the blak freres.
a. 1502. in Arnolde, Chron. (1811), p. xxi. This yere … frirs carims began first; and a gret winde, Ao. Dni. M.ij.C.xx.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 140. Though the frere minor gyue great example of holynes.
1529. More, Dyaloge, III. Wks. 223/2. Frere Hierom geuing vp his order of the frere obseruantes came to hym where he was.
1537. in Brand, Hist. Newcastle (1789), I. 130, note. Rowland Hardinge prior of the Freaȝours Preachours of Newcastell upon Tyne.
a. 1596. in. Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. i. 148.
| It was the Friar of Orders gray | |
| As he forth walked on his way. |
1628. Coke, On Litt., 132 The Order of Friers Minors and Preachers.
1647. Trapp, Comm. 1 Tim. iv. 2. It was grown to a common Proverb, A Frier, a lier.
1673. Ray, Journ. Low C., Spain, 492. A great Convent of Dominican Freres, in which there is a famous pair of stone-stairs, each step being of one entire stone and supported only on one side.
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., I. 19. Johan. de Coloribus, by Birth an Outlander, by Profession a Black Frier, was a Reader of Divinity.
1703. Maundrell, Journ. Jerus. (1732), 7. The Venerable presents of some Itinerant Fryars.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, vi. The other ruffian did not yet appear, but it seemed evident that these friars had left the convent in consequence of his information.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., I. xxix.
| And mass and revel were alternate seen; | |
| Lordlings and freres—ill-sorted fry I ween! |
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxvii. ‘He might be a capeechin freer for fat I ken’d, for he was dress’d like an auld palmer.’
1874. Green, Short Hist., iii. § 6. 145. To the towns especially the coming of the Friars was a religious revolution.
b. Sometimes loosely applied to members of the monastic or of the military orders.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 197. Þe freres of þe hospital, & þe temple also.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, II. vii. (1884), 139. The brimborions of the cælestine friars.
1801. A. Ranken, Hist. France, I. 225. In ordinary occurrences of difficulty, he [the abbot] may consult with the older friars (frères, or fratres); but in matters of importance he shall consult the whole brethren.
c. pl. The quarters or convent of a particular order; hence often used as a proper name for the part of a town where their convent formerly existed.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, II. 33.
| He … with Schyr Ihone the Cumyn met, | |
| In the freris, at the hye Awter. |
1479. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 426. And the next Sonday therupon, they shall hire sermonde at the ffrere menors, and the thirde Sonday at the ffrere Prechours.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., cxcvii. 173. The barons that with hem were token counceyll bytwene hem at Frere prechours at pountfret.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot., XIV. vii. This seruand suspeekand na euill, schew yt he wes in ye freiris of Dunfreis.
1655. Fuller, The Church-History of Britain, VI. i. 270. A place enjoying great priviledges, and still retaining the name of Black Fryers.
1822. Scott, Nigel, xxv. You are about to leave the Friars? I will go with you.
1897. Oxf. Times, 13 Feb., 5/8. Houses in the … Friars have been invaded by the flood-water.
† 3. Some vessel, etc., made in the similitude of a friar. Obs.
1463. Bury Wills (Camden), 41. To Kateryne Druy my best gay cuppe of erthe kevvryd, or ellys oon of the frerys, to chese of bothe.
† 4. Some kind of fly (see quot.). Obs.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 48–9. The Body mixed with a Goats gall, helpeth against the long flye called a Frier, flying into the flame of Candles burning in the night, which is counted poysonsome.
5. A name given to various fishes.
1603. Owen, Pembrokesh. (1891), 123. The frier [named in a list of fish].
1889. Century Dict., Friar, a fish of the family Atherinidæ. An Irish name of the angler, Lophius piscatorius.
1892. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Suppl., Friar, a name for the silversides, a North American fish, Chirostoma notatum.
6. An Australian bird of the genus Philemon. Now usually friar-bird.
1798. D. Collins, Ace. Eng. Col. N. S. Wales, 615 Vocab., Wirg-an, Bird named by us the Friar.
1848. J. Gould, Birds Austral., IV. Descr. pl. 58. Tropidorhynchus Corniculatus … Friar Bird.
7. Print. (See quots.)
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., II. 377. Fryer. When the Balls do not Take, the Un-taking part of the Balls that touches the Form will be left White, or if the Press-men Skip over any part of the Form, and touch it not with the Balls, though they do Take, yet in both these cases the White place is cal’d a Fryer.
1824. J. Johnson, Typogr., II. 524. That corner untouched by the ball [of printer’s ink], and makes what is technically termed a friar.
1871. Amer. Encycl. Print. (ed. Ringwalt), Friars.—Light patches caused by imperfect inking of the form.
8. White friars: ‘a small flake of light-coloured sediment floating in wine.’
a. 1745. Swift, Direct. Serv., i. Wks. 1824, XI. 396. Be more careful to have the cork in the belly of the bottle than in the mouth; and if the cork be musty, or white friars in your liquor, your master will save the more.
9. attrib. and Comb. a. attributive (of or pertaining to the friars), as friar-house, -kirk, -lands; appositive, as friar-beggar (and see under sense 2).
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxxxvii. 262. The iiij ordres of the *frere beggers.
1525. Fitzherb., Husb., 58 b. Our forefaders that hath for the loue & honoure of god made chyrches, abbeys, *frere houses.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., III. 488.
| Their he remanit till his latter da, | |
| Syne bureit was wes, as my author did sa, | |
| In the *freir kirk at the hie altar end. |
1681. in Southey, Comm.-pl. Bk., IV. 379. They likewise renounce all chapels, chaplains, feastings, piping, dancing, laughing, monk-land, *frier-lands … together with all manner of law works, ballads, romances, play books, cards, and dice.
b. Special comb.: friar’s balsam, tincture of benzoin compound used as an application for ulcers and wounds; friar-bird: see sense 6; friar’s cap(s, the Monkshood, Aconitum Napellus; friar’s chicken, ‘chicken-broth with eggs dropped in it’ (Jam.); friar’s cowl, the Cuckoo-pint or Wake Robin, Arum maculatum; friar’s crown, Carduus eriophorus; † friar-fly, an idler; friar’s goose, Eryngium campestre; friar’s-grey, grey worn by the Franciscans; friar’s-hood = friar’s cowl; friar(’s knots, in goldsmith’s work, knots made in imitation of the knotted cords of the Franciscans; friar’s lantern = Ignis fatuus; friar-skate, the Raia alba; friar’s thistle = friar’s crown.
1844. Hoblyn, Dict. Med. Terms, *Friars’ balsam.
1830. Withering’s Brit. Plants (ed. 7) (Brit. & H.), *Friars caps.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., I. 46. It [Aconítum Napèllus (Monk’s-hood)] had the old names of Helmet-flower and Friar’s-cap.
1782. Sir J. Sinclair, Observ. Sc. Dial., 150. Fried chickens, (properly) *Friars chickens. A dish invented by that luxurious body of men.
1815. [see CRAPPIT-HEAD].
1597. Gerard, Herball, II. ccxci. 686. Of *Friers Coule, or hooded Cuckowpint.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 90. Wake Robin, or Cuckow Pintle.… This is of some called Friers Coule, because of the hooding of the Pestle, when it is springing forth.
1597. Gerard, Herball, II. cccclxii. 990. The downe Thistle … is thought of diuers to be that … Franciscane friers report to be called Corona fratrum or *Friers Crowne.
1577. Northbrooke, Dicing (1579), 11 b. Idlers & wanderers were wont to be called *friers flees [the Lat. above is fratres muscas] that do no good.
1861. Mrs. Lankester, Wild Flowers, 62. Another British species, Eryngium campestre, called by John Ray, *Friar’s Goose.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., IV. xiii. § 6. As one family is not abridged of liberty to be clothed in *friars’-grey for that another doth wear clay-colour, so neither are all churches bound to the self-same indifferent ceremonies which it liketh sundry to use.
1597. Gerard, Herball, II. ccxci. 686. *Friers hood is of two sorts, the one broad leafed, the other narrow leafed.
1488. in Ld. Treas. Accts. Scotl. (1877), I. 83. Item, a chenȝe of gold maid in fassone of *frere knottis.
1529. M. Parr in Wills Doct. Comm. (Camden), 18. xviij. diamontes sett with fryers knottes.
1631. Milton, L’Allegro, 104.
| And he by *Friars Lanthorn led | |
| Tells how the drudging Goblin swet, | |
| To ern his Cream-bowle duly set. |
1810. Neill, List Fishes, 28 (Jam.). Sharp-nosed Ray … *Friar-skate.
