来自Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary & Thesaurus, 2015
DictionaryThesaurus
fret1
verb
/ˈfret /
fretted; fretting
transitive verb
1 a : to eat or gnaw into : corrode; also : fray b : rub, chafe c : to make by wearing away a substance the stream fretted a channel
2 to cause to suffer emotional strain : vex
3 to pass (as time) in fretting
4 agitate, ripple
intransitive verb
1 a : to eat into something b : to affect something as if by gnawing or biting : grate
2 a : wear, corrode b : chafe c : fray 1
3 a : to become vexed or worried b of running water : to become agitated

Origin

Middle English, to devour, fret, from Old English fretan to devour; akin to Old High German frezzan to devour, ezzan to eat — more at eat

First Known Use: 12th century

Rhymes

bet, debt, get, het, jet, let, Lett, met, net, pet, ret, set, stet, sweat, Tet, threat, vet, wet, whet, yet
fret2
noun
1 a : the action of wearing away : erosion b : a worn or eroded spot
2 an agitation of mind : irritation

First known use

15th century
fret3
verb
fretted; fretting
transitive verb
1 a : to decorate with interlaced designs b : to form a pattern upon
2 to enrich with embossed or carved patterns

Origin

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

First Known Use: 14th century

fret4
noun
fret 2
1 an ornamental network; especially : a medieval metallic or jeweled net for a woman's headdress
2 an ornament or ornamental work often in relief consisting of small straight bars intersecting one another in right or oblique angles

First known use

14th century
fret5
noun
one of a series of ridges fixed across the fingerboard of a stringed musical instrument (as a guitar)
fretless, adjective
fretted, adjective

Origin

perhaps from Middle French frete ferrule, from freter

First Known Use: circa 1500

fret6
verb
fretted; fretting
transitive verb
to press (the strings of a stringed instrument) against the frets

First known use

1602
fret
noun
a state of nervous or irritated concern one of my customers always gets into a fret if I'm so much as 15 minutes late delivering his newspaper
related words
bother, dudgeon, pique; alarm (also alarum), hand-wringing, panic; ado, agitation, delirium, distraction, furor, hysteria, uproar; nervous breakdown
fret
verb
1 to consume or wear away gradually over the span of thousands of years, the annual spring runoff fretted the rock, forming a deep channel
synonyms
bite (at), corrode, erode, fret, gnaw, nibble
2 to damage or diminish by continued friction don't let the girth fret the horse's belly or you won't be able to ride him
3 to experience concern or anxiety don't fret over whether it will be sunny tomorrow, as there's nothing we can do about it
related words
agonize; long, pine, yearn; chafe; despair
4 to make sore by continued rubbing the stiff, starchy collar was fretting my neck, and I couldn't wait to change out of that costume
related words
graze, scrape, scratch; burn, inflame (also enflame); flay, peel, skin