Fringe noun [ OF, fringe , French frange , probably from Latin fimbria fiber, thread, fringe, confer fibra fiber, English fiber , fimbriate .]
1. An ornamental appendage to the border of a piece of stuff, originally consisting of the ends of the warp, projecting beyond the woven fabric; but more commonly made separate and sewed on, consisting sometimes of projecting ends, twisted or plaited together, and sometimes of loose threads of wool, silk, or linen, or narrow strips of leather, or the like.

2. Something resembling in any respect a fringe; a line of objects along a border or edge; a border; an edging; a margin; a confine.

The confines of grace and the fringes of repentance.

Jer. Taylor.

3. (Opt.) One of a number of light or dark bands, produced by the interference of light; a diffraction band; -- called also interference fringe.

4. (Botany) The peristome or fringelike appendage of the capsules of most mosses. See Peristome .

Fringe tree (Botany) , a small tree ( Chionanthus Virginica ), growing in the Southern United States, and having snow-white flowers, with long pendulous petals.

Fringe transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Fringed ; present participle & vb. adjective Fringing .] To adorn the edge of with a fringe or as with a fringe.

Precipices fringed with grass.

Bryant.

Fringing reef . See Coral reefs , under Coral .

Fringe tree A small oleaceous tree ( Chionanthus virginica ), of the southern United States, having clusters of white flowers with slender petals. It is often cultivated.

Fringed adjective Furnished with a fringe.

Fringed lear (Botany) , a leaf edged with soft parallel hairs.

Fringeless adjective Having no fringe.

Fringent adjective Encircling like a fringe; bordering. [ R.] "The fringent air." Emerson.

Fringilla adjective [ New Latin , from Latin fringilla a chaffinch .] (Zoology) A genus of birds, with a short, conical, pointed bill. It formerly included all the sparrows and finches, but is now restricted to certain European finches, like the chaffinch and brambling.

Fringillaceous adjective (Zoology) Fringilline.

Fringilline adjective (Zoology) Pertaining to the family Fringillidæ ; characteristic of finches; sparrowlike.

Fringy adjective Aborned with fringes. Shak.

Fripper noun [ French fripier , from friper to rumple, fumble, waste.] One who deals in frippery or in old clothes. [ Obsolete] Bacon.

Fripperer noun A fripper. [ Obsolete] Johnson.

Frippery noun [ French friperie , from fruper . See Fripper .]
1. Coast-off clothes. [ Obsolete] B. Jonson.

2. Hence: Secondhand finery; cheap and tawdry decoration; affected elegance.

Fond of gauze and French frippery .

Goldsmith.

The gauzy frippery of a French translation.

Sir W. Scott.

3. A place where old clothes are sold. Shak.

4. The trade or traffic in old clothes.

Frippery adjective Trifling; contemptible.

Frisette, Frizette noun [ French frisette curl.] a fringe of hair or curls worn about the forehead by women.

Friseur' noun [ French, from friser to curl, frizzle. See Frizzle .] A hairdresser.

Frisian adjective Of or pertaining to Friesland, a province of the Netherlands; Friesic.

Frisian noun A native or inhabitant of Friesland; also, the language spoken in Friesland. See Friesic , noun

Frisk adjective [ Old French frieque , confer Old High German frise lively, brisk, fresh, Dan. & Swedish frisk , Icelandic friskr . See Fresh , adjective ] Lively; brisk; frolicsome; frisky. [ Obsolete] Bp. Hall.

Frisk adjective A frolic; a fit of wanton gayety; a gambol: a little playful skip or leap. Johnson.

Frisk intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Frisked ; present participle & verbal noun Frisking .] To leap, skip, dance, or gambol, in fronc and gayety.

The frisking satyrs on the summits danced.

Addison.

Friskal noun A leap or caper. [ Obsolete] B. Jonson.

Frisker noun One who frisks; one who leaps of dances in gayety; a wanton; an inconstant or unsettled person. Camden.

Frisket noun [ French frisguette . Perh. so named from the velocity or frequency of its motion. See Frisk adjective ] (Print.) The light frame which holds the sheet of paper to the tympan in printing.

Friskful adjective Brisk; lively; frolicsome.

Friskily' adverb In a frisky manner.

Friskiness noun State or quality of being frisky.

Frisky adjective Inclined to frisk; frolicsome; gay.

He is too frisky for an old man.

Jeffrey.

Frislet (frĭz"lĕt) noun [ Confer Fraise a kind of defense; also Friz .] A kind of small ruffle. Halliwell.

Frist (frĭst) transitive verb [ Middle English fristen , firsten , to lend, give respite, postpone, Anglo-Saxon firstan to give respite to; akin to first time, German frist , Icelandic frest delay.] To sell upon credit, as goods. [ R.] Crabb.

Frisure noun [ French] The dressing of the hair by crisping or curling. Smollett.

Frit noun [ French fritte , from frit fried, past participle of frire to fry. See Far , transitive verb ]
1. (Glass Making) The material of which glass is made, after having been calcined or partly fused in a furnace, but before vitrification. It is a composition of silex and alkali, occasionally with other ingredients. Ure.

2. (Ceramics) The material for glaze of pottery.

Frit brick , a lump of calcined glass materials, brought to a pasty condition in a reverberatory furnace, preliminary to the perfect vitrification in the melting pot.

Frit transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Fritted ; present participle & verbal noun Fritting .] To prepare by heat (the materials for making glass); to fuse partially. Ure.

Frit transitive verb To fritter; -- with away. [ R.] Ld. Lytton.

Fritfly noun (Zoology) A small dipterous fly of the genus Oscinis , esp. O. vastator , injurious to grain in Europe, and O. Trifole , injurious to clover in America.

Frith (frĭth) noun [ Middle English firth , Icelandic fjörðr ; akin to Swedish fjärd , Danish fiord , English ford . √78. See Ford , noun , and confer Firth , Fiord , Fret a frith, Port a harbor.]

1. (Geology) A narrow arm of the sea; an estuary; the opening of a river into the sea; as, the Frith of Forth.

2. A kind of weir for catching fish. [ Eng.] Carew.

Frith noun [ Middle English frith peace, protection, land inclosed for hunting, park, forest, Anglo-Saxon frið peace; akin to frenoð peace, protection, asylum, German friede peace, Icelandic friðr , and from the root of E. free, friend. See Free , adjective , and confer Affray , Defray .]
1. A forest; a woody place. [ Obsolete] Drayton.

2. A small field taken out of a common, by inclosing it; an inclosure. [ Obsolete] Sir J. Wynne.

Frithy adjective Woody. [ Obsolete] Skelton.

Fritillaria noun [ New Latin , from Latin fritillus dicebox: confer French fritillaire . So named from the checkered markings of the petals.] (Botany) A genus of liliaceous plants, of which the crown-imperial ( Fritillaria imperialis ) is one species, and the Guinea-hen flower ( F. Meleagris ) another. See Crown-imperial .

Fritillary noun
1. (Botany) A plant with checkered petals, of the genus Fritillaria: the Guinea-hen flower. See Fritillaria .

2. (Zoology) One of several species of butterflies belonging to Argynnis and allied genera; -- so called because the coloring of their wings resembles that of the common Fritillaria . See Aphrodite .

Fritinancy noun [ Latin fritinnire to twitter.] A chirping or creaking, as of a cricket. [ Obsolete] Sir T. Browne.

Fritter noun [ OR. fritour , friture , pancake, French friture frying, a thing fried, from frire to fry. See Far , transitive verb ]
1. A small quantity of batter, fried in boiling lard or in a frying pan. Fritters are of various kinds, named from the substance inclosed in the batter; as, apple fritters , clam fritters , oyster fritters .

2. A fragment; a shred; a small piece.

And cut whole giants into fritters .

Hudibras.

Corn fritter . See under Corn .

Fritter transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Frittered ; present participle & verbal noun Frittering .]
1. To cut, as meat, into small pieces, for frying.

2. To break into small pieces or fragments.

Break all nerves, and fritter all their sense.

Pope.

To fritter away , to diminish; to pare off; to reduce to nothing by taking away a little at a time; also, to waste piecemeal; as, to fritter away time, strength, credit, etc.

Fritting noun [ See Frit to expose to heat.] The formation of frit or slag by heat with but incipient fusion.

Frivol intransitive verb To act frivolously; to trifle. Kipling . -- Friv"ol*er , Friv"ol*ler , noun [ All Colloq.]

Frivolism noun Frivolity. [ R.] Pristley.

Frivolity noun ; plural Frivolities . [ Cg. French frivolité . See Frivolous .] The condition or quality of being frivolous; also, acts or habits of trifling; unbecoming levity of disposition.

Frivolous adjective [ Latin frivolus ; probably akin to friare to rub, crumble, English friable : confer French frivole .]

1. Of little weight or importance; not worth notice; slight; as, a frivolous argument. Swift.

2. Given to trifling; marked with unbecoming levity; silly; interested especially in trifling matters.

His personal tastes were low and frivolous .

Macaulay.

Syn. -- Trifling; trivial; slight; petty; worthless.

-- Friv"o*lous*ly , adverb -- Friv"o*lous*ness , noun

Friz transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Frizzed ; present participle & verbal noun Frizzing .] [ Confer French friser to curl, crisp, frizzle , to raise the nap (on certain stuffs); probably akin to OFries. frisle hair of the head. Confer Frieze kind of cloth.] [ Written also frizz .]
1. To curl or form into small curls, as hair, with a crisping pin; to crisp.

With her hair frizzed short up to her ears.

Pepys.

2. To form into little burs, prominences, knobs, or tufts, as the nap of cloth.

3. (Leather Manufacture) To soften and make of even thickness by rubbing, as with pumice stone or a blunt instrument.

Frizzing machine . (a) (Fabrics) A machine for frizzing the surface of cloth. (b) (Wood Working) A bench with a revolving cutter head slightly protruding above its surface, for dressing boards.

Friz noun ; plural Frizzes That which is frizzed; anything crisped or curled, as a wig; a frizzle. [ Written also frizz .]

He [ Dr. Johnson], who saw in his glass how his wig became his face and head, might easily infer that a similar fullbottomed, well-curled friz of words would be no less becoming to his thoughts.

Hare.

Frize noun (Architecture) See 1st Frieze .