Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (n.) See Frith. 2. (v. t.) To devour. 3. (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. 4. (v. t.) To impair; to wear away; to diminish. 5. (v. t.) To make rough, agitate, or disturb; to cause to ripple; as, to fret the surface of water. 6. (v. t.) To tease; to irritate; to vex. 7. (v. i.) To be worn away; to chafe; to fray; as, a wristband frets on the edges. 8. (v. i.) To eat in; to make way by corrosion. 9. (v. i.) To be agitated; to be in violent commotion; to rankle; as, rancor frets in the malignant breast. 10. (v. i.) To be vexed; to be chafed or irritated; to be angry; to utter peevish expressions. 11. (n.) The agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water. 12. (n.) Agitation of mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation; as, he keeps his mind in a continual fret. 13. (n.) Herpes; tetter. 14. (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. 15. (v. t.) To ornament with raised work; to variegate; to diversify. 16. (n.) Ornamental work in relief, as carving or embossing. See Fretwork. 17. (n.) An ornament consisting of small fillets or slats intersecting each other or bent at right angles, as in classical designs, or at oblique angles, as often in Oriental art. 18. (n.) The reticulated headdress or net, made of gold or silver wire, in which ladies in the Middle Ages confined their hair. 19. (n.) A saltire interlaced with a muscle. 20. (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. 21. (v. t.) To furnish with frets, as an instrument of music. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia FRET, FRETTING (charah, ma'ar): To "fret" is from for (prefix) and etan, "to eat," "to consume." The word is both transitive and intransitive in King James Version: (1) transitive as translation of charah, "to burn," Hithpael, "to fret one's self," "to be angry" (Psalm 37:1, "Fret not thyself because of evil-doers"; Psalm 37:7, 8 Proverbs 24:19); of qatsaph, "to be angry," etc. (Isaiah 8:21, "They shall fret themselves, and curse," etc.); of raghaz, to be moved" (with anger, etc.) (Ezekiel 16:43, "Thou hast fretted me in all these things," the American Standard Revised Version "raged against me"). For Leviticus 13:55, see under Fretting below. (2) Intransitive, it is the translation of ra`am, "to rage," Hiphil, "to provoke to anger" (1 Samuel 1:6, "Her rival provoked her sore, to make her fret"); of za`aph, "to be sad," "to fret" (Proverbs 19:3, "His heart fretteth against Yahweh"). Fretting in the sense of eating away, consuming, is used of the leprosy, ma'ar, "to be sharp, bitter, painful" (Leviticus 13:51, 52; Leviticus 14:44, "a fretting leprosy"; in Leviticus 13:55 we have "it (is) fret inward" ("fret" past participle), as the translation of pehetheth from pahath, "to dig" (a pit), the word meaning "a depression," "a hollow or sunken spot in a garment affected by a kind of leprosy," the Revised Version (British and American) "it is a fret." Revised Version has "fretful" for "angry" (Proverbs 21:19), margin "vexation." W. L. Walker

Multi-Version Concordance Fret (9 Occurrences) Colossians 3:21 Fathers, do not fret and harass your children, or you may make them sullen and morose. (WEY) Leviticus 13:55 And the priest shall look on the plague, after that it is washed: and, behold, if the plague have not changed his color, and the plague be not spread; it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire; it is fret inward, whether it be bare within or without. (KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT) 1 Samuel 1:6 Her rival provoked her sore, to make her fret, because Yahweh had shut up her womb. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS) Psalms 37:1 By David. Don't fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Psalms 37:7 Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him. Don't fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who makes wicked plots happen. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Psalms 37:8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath. Don't fret, it leads only to evildoing. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Proverbs 24:19 Don't fret yourself because of evildoers; neither be envious of the wicked: (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Isaiah 8:21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. (KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS) Jeremiah 12:5 For -- with footmen thou hast run, And they weary thee, And how dost thou fret thyself with horses! Even in the land of peace, 'In which' thou art confident -- And how dost thou in the rising of Jordan! (YLT)