I. verb (fretted; fretting) see: eat
Date: 12th century
transitive verb
1. to eat or gnaw into ; corrode , rub , chafe , to make by wearing away a substance , to cause to suffer emotional strain ; vex , to pass (as time) in fretting, agitate , ripple , intransitive verb
1. to eat into something, to affect something as if by gnawing or biting ; grate ,
2. wear , corrode , chafe , fray 1,
3. to become vexed or worried, to become agitated,
II. noun
Date: 15th century
1. the action of wearing away ; erosion , a worn or eroded spot, an agitation of mind ; irritation ,
III. transitive verb (fretted; fretting)
Etymology: Middle English, back-formation from fret, fretted adorned, interwoven, from Anglo-French fretté, past participle of fretter to tie, probably from Vulgar Latin *firmitare, from Latin firmus firm
Date: 14th century
1. to decorate with interlaced designs, to form a pattern upon, to enrich with embossed or pierced carved patterns,
IV. noun
Date: 14th century
an ornamental network, an ornament or ornamental work often in relief consisting of small straight bars intersecting one another in right or oblique angles,
V. noun
Etymology: perhaps from Middle French frete ferrule, from freter
Date: circa 1500
one of a series of ridges fixed across the fingerboard of a stringed musical instrument (as a guitar), fretless adjective fretted adjective V
I. transitive verb (fretted; fretting)
Date: 1602
to press (the strings of a stringed instrument) against the frets