(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.
Spall
Definition:
(n.) The shoulder.
(n.) A chip or fragment, especially a chip of stone as struck off the block by the hammer, having at least one feather-edge.
(v. t.) To break into small pieces, as ore, for the purpose of separating from rock.
(v. t.) To reduce, as irregular blocks of stone, to an approximately level surface by hammering.
(v. i.) To give off spalls, or wedge-shaped chips; -- said of stone, as when badly set, with the weight thrown too much on the outer surface.
Example Sentences:
(1) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Frosty … Rafe Spall in Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror.
(2) He was a much smaller man than Tim Spall but I decided not to worry about that.” Dick Pope was honoured at Cannes with a technical award for his cinematography for bringing the paintings to life: the film is filled with Turneresque colour: rose, amber, palest blue… “It’s interesting,” Leigh says, “that this is the first full-length film we have made with a digital camera.
(3) His first spell there, while successful, was dotted with rows with players – especially Rivaldo – and his second spall was something of a disaster.
(4) He takes the title role in this comedy about divorced dad Rafe Spall’s attempts to find Santa’s lost reindeer, bust the big fellow from prison after a run-in with the authorities and thereby save Christmas.
(5) Spall's performance has been much celebrated for its emotional depth, despite Turner's vocabulary in the film often consisting of grunts, snorts and spitting saliva onto the canvas.
(6) It is, perhaps, strange that after all they have been through, the Spalls should have chosen so strenuous – and potentially hazardous – a pastime.
(7) Thus to see Timothy Spall in Mr Turner mindlessly attacking a badly painted oil sketch was a painful experience for those that love and study art, spoiling for me what otherwise was a beautifully shot and constructed film.
(8) There was nothing for the hottest Broadway ticket of last year, a revival of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal directed by Mike Nicholls and starring Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Rafe Spall.
(9) Timothy Spall deservedly won the best actor award at Cannes this year for his portrayal of the painter JMW Turner as a kind of intermittently tender warthog.
(10) Julianne Moore was named best actress for her performance as a demented Hollywood diva in David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars, while Britain's Timothy Spall won the best actor prize for his grunting, growling masterclass as marine painter JMW Turner in Mike Leigh's period drama Mr Turner .
(11) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Timothy Spall stars in the forthcoming Mr Turner, directed by Mike Leigh Photograph: Allstar Picture Library “The skies over Thanet are the loveliest in all Europe,” he wrote of the area around Margate, where he painted more than 100 oils and watercolours.
(12) However, Spall, 57, has been painting for a decade, mostly canvases of anguished angels.
(13) He reckons Mr Turner will take the Palme d'Or, the Dardennes brothers socialist drama Two Days, One Night will have the second place Grand Prix, and Timothy Spall will be shut out of best actor by Channing Tatum or Steve Carell, both in Foxcatcher.
(14) But there is strong competition from Leviathan, a Russian epic inspired by the Book of Job and full of barbed digs at the Moscow administration, and from Mike Leigh's artist biopic Mr Turner, starring Timothy Spall.
(15) The costume drama, Leigh's first since his depiction of the eccentric Gilbert and Sullivan partnership in Topsy-Turvy, will star Timothy Spall as the enigmatic painter, with Marion Bailey, Dorothy Atkinson and Paul Jesson in supporting roles.
(16) Peter Bradshaw on Mr Turner – Timothy Spall dazzles as JMW Turner
(17) Turner is played by Timothy Spall , who has already received the Cannes best actor award for a tremendous and disconcerting performance.
(18) Notable names missing include Daniel Radcliffe, rave-reviewed for The Cripple of Inishmaan, Denzel Washington (A Raisin in the Sun) and the hottest Broadway ticket of last year, a revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal directed by Mike Nicholls and starring Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Rafe Spall.
(19) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Timothy Spall, who ‘had an amateur notion of doodling’ had to study painting to prepare for his role in Mr Turner.
(20) Since Tim Spall had agreed to be in it by then and he's not what one would call svelte ... [Laughter] ... it pointed me in the direction where my imagination could get going with things that are an ongoing preoccupation.