(v. t.) To rub; to wear away by friction; to chafe; to gall; hence, to eat away; to gnaw; as, to fret cloth; to fret a piece of gold or other metal; a worm frets the plants of a ship.
(v. t.) To impair; to wear away; to diminish.
(v. t.) To make rough, agitate, or disturb; to cause to ripple; as, to fret the surface of water.
(v. t.) To tease; to irritate; to vex.
(v. i.) To be worn away; to chafe; to fray; as, a wristband frets on the edges.
(v. i.) To eat in; to make way by corrosion.
(v. i.) To be agitated; to be in violent commotion; to rankle; as, rancor frets in the malignant breast.
(v. i.) To be vexed; to be chafed or irritated; to be angry; to utter peevish expressions.
(n.) The agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
(n.) Agitation of mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation; as, he keeps his mind in a continual fret.
(n.) Herpes; tetter.
(n.) The worn sides of river banks, where ores, or stones containing them, accumulate by being washed down from the hills, and thus indicate to the miners the locality of the veins.
(v. t.) To ornament with raised work; to variegate; to diversify.
(n.) Ornamental work in relief, as carving or embossing. See Fretwork.
(n.) An ornament consisting of smmall fillets or slats intersecting each other or bent at right angles, as in classical designs, or at obilique angles, as often in Oriental art.
(n.) The reticulated headdress or net, made of gold or silver wire, in which ladies in the Middle Ages confined their hair.
(n.) A saltire interlaced with a mascle.
(n.) A short piece of wire, or other material fixed across the finger board of a guitar or a similar instrument, to indicate where the finger is to be placed.
(v. t.) To furnish with frets, as an instrument of music.
Example Sentences:
(1) The FSA was fretting about solvency when liquidity was the problem.
(2) She finds indoor activities to discourage the kids from playing outside on the foulest days, and plans holidays abroad as often as possible – but still frets about what their years in Delhi may do to her children’s health.
(3) It might seem absurd, but she also fretted about the horrendous poll tax bills received by people she knew, people she knew couldn't pay.
(4) And in a broader sense, the sort of Conservatives who think intelligently and strategically – and there are more of them than you think – fret that a bearded 66-year-old socialist has ignited political debate in a way that absolutely nobody in the mainstream predicted.
(5) It certainly saved her fretting over her debut sex scene.
(6) Moyes had already described how he had fretted about his attire when Ferguson initially invited him round to discuss the biggest job in English football and how the colour had drained from his face when he was offered it.
(7) For long periods Argentina had been stifled by a fine counterpunching opposition, but it would be a little hasty to fret too much about them after this performance.
(8) Chipmaker ARM is the biggest faller in London, as analysts fret about a slowdown in royalty revenues.
(9) "I used to be really nervous and sit in my dressing room and fret about a scene," he told Rolling Stone .
(10) Hewitt, playing in probably his last Davis Cup for his country at 34 before retiring from the game at the Australian Open in January, added: “We were able to keep Andy out there for a long time, but he’s still favourite [on Sunday].” For the British team, the Murrays’ win lifted a considerable weight off the shoulders of the captain, Leon Smith, who shared the crowd’s anxiety at several key moments of the match, none more fretful than when Andy Murray failed to serve it out in the fourth set and then when they were unable to convert the first match point in the subsequent tie-break.
(11) While Victorians celebrated the empire on which the sun would never set with successive jubilees (golden, 1887, and diamond, 1897), many readers fretted over foreign (increasingly German) threats to the harmony of English life.
(12) On Tuesday, for every wealthy Kolonaki resident fretting about their cash, there was a less well-off state or company employee convinced it would not come to that.
(13) They fretted as political ambition was given rocket boosters by technology.
(14) But better economic sentiment means more market fretting over the Fed's huge stimulus programme being scaled back.
(15) • Follow the Guardian's World Cup team on Twitter • Sign up to play our daily Fantasy Football game • Stats centre: Get the lowdown on every player • The latest semi-final news, features and more People get fretful.
(16) • Three graphs to stop smartphone fans fretting about market share
(17) After dinner she drove him to the railway station while fretting over leaving her baby son sleeping at home.
(18) Significant differences in the shapes of the cathodic Tafel slopes were also seen with cylinders with different surface conditions, and static versus fretting plates.
(19) Despite their jokey exterior, most had big things on their mind, fretting over marriages and babies, breakups and single life; less "grossout" comedy than "freakout".
(20) City analysts still fret that Bailey has either taken on too much or is an unproven chief executive.
Rub
Definition:
(v. t.) To subject (a body) to the action of something moving over its surface with pressure and friction, especially to the action of something moving back and forth; as, to rub the flesh with the hand; to rub wood with sandpaper.
(v. t.) To move over the surface of (a body) with pressure and friction; to graze; to chafe; as, the boat rubs the ground.
(v. t.) To cause (a body) to move with pressure and friction along a surface; as, to rub the hand over the body.
(v. t.) To spread a substance thinly over; to smear.
(v. t.) To scour; to burnish; to polish; to brighten; to cleanse; -- often with up or over; as, to rub up silver.
(v. t.) To hinder; to cross; to thwart.
(v. i.) To move along the surface of a body with pressure; to grate; as, a wheel rubs against the gatepost.
(v. i.) To fret; to chafe; as, to rub upon a sore.
(v. i.) To move or pass with difficulty; as, to rub through woods, as huntsmen; to rub through the world.
(n.) The act of rubbing; friction.
(n.) That which rubs; that which tends to hinder or obstruct motion or progress; hindrance; obstruction, an impediment; especially, a difficulty or obstruction hard to overcome; a pinch.
(n.) Inequality of surface, as of the ground in the game of bowls; unevenness.
(n.) Something grating to the feelings; sarcasm; joke; as, a hard rub.
(n.) Imperfection; failing; fault.
(n.) A chance.
(n.) A stone, commonly flat, used to sharpen cutting tools; a whetstone; -- called also rubstone.
Example Sentences:
(1) Neither acetylcholine nor leukotriene D4 altered tone of arterial rings after the endothelium had been intentionally disrupted by rubbing with a cotton-tipped applicator.
(2) Rubbed rings, but not intact ones, contracted when Ca2+ was added to a previously Ca2+-free medium containing angiotensin II or adrenaline.
(3) Immediately after eye rubbing the conjunctival epithelium was histologically disrupted and 50% of the mast cells showed evidence of degranulation.
(4) But this morning's right-of-centre national papers were determined to rub his nose in the dirt.
(5) Long-term rubbing of a pressure stocking and splint was believed to be responsible for breakdown in the graft of the patient who had a hypertrophic scar.
(6) I think we all pine for the good old days when politicians actually wrote bills, and bills actually became laws and can I rub your arms a little?
(7) The specific endonuclease Bam HI from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (RUB 500) has been purified to apparent homogeneity.
(8) Ultz, who is also a well-known stage designer, is the only white person in the company - something the play rubs his nose in.
(9) Who was the asshole who threw the bottle?” Matt asked, rubbing his sore spot.
(10) The fibromas were transmitted by intradermal and subcutaneous inoculation and by rubbing the virus preparation into tattoo sites.
(11) With advancing age, the ATP-induced relaxation in the rubbed rings decreased and was abolished.
(12) In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the American Psychiatric Association describes “frotteurism” as “recurrent, intense, or arousing sexual urges or fantasies, that involve touching and rubbing against a nonconsenting person”.
(13) Rubbed (endothelium-denuded) ring preparations at the age of 4-6 weeks showed a dose-dependent relaxation similar to that of the unrubbed rings.
(14) We found positive reactions in the prick test and rubbing test to the scales of the lizard Egernia cunninghami and others, which the patient kept as house-pets at this time or earlier.
(15) On the contrary, not all country dwellers are Tories; and fat cats, often Tory, will be rubbing their hands at the thought of asset-stripping another national resource.
(16) Ten rubs occurred in patients with pericardial effusion, five of whom had tamponade.
(17) But this will only rub more salt into the wounds at home.
(18) During each scratch cycle, the monoarticular knee extensor muscle is active when the limb rubs against the stimulated site, and there is rhythmic alternation between hip protractor and hip retractor muscle activity (Robertson et al., 1985).
(19) Oscar Pistorius rubs his face as he sits in the dock during his ongoing murder trial at a packed high court in Pretoria on May 5.
(20) Did it actually happen, that run of singles so strange and yet so strong that they rose to the higher reaches of the hit parade, rubbing shoulders with Showaddywaddy and the Nolans on Top of the Pops?