to cook in a pan or on a griddle over direct heat, usually in fat or oil.
Slang. to execute by electrocution in an electric chair.
to undergo cooking in fat or oil.
Slang. to die by electrocution in an electric chair.
a dish of something fried.
a piece of french-fried potato.
a party or gathering at which the chief food is fried, frequently outdoors.
a fish fry.
a young fish.
a salmon fry.
a young animal of certain other kinds, as frogs and oysters.
a person, especially a young or unimportant one.
The prime minister had to bank on the cooperation of lesser fry.
to cook or be cooked in fat, oil, etc, usually over direct heat
informal (intr) to be excessively hot
slang to kill or be killed by electrocution, esp in the electric chair
a dish of something fried, esp the offal of a specified animal
pig's fry
a social occasion, often outdoors, at which the chief food is fried
informal the act of preparing a mixed fried dish or the dish itself
Christopher . 1907–2005, English dramatist; author of the verse dramas A Phoenix Too Frequent (1946), The Lady's Not For Burning (1948), and Venus Observed (1950)
Elizabeth . 1780–1845, English prison reformer and Quaker
Roger Eliot . 1866–1934, English art critic and painter who helped to introduce the postimpressionists to Britain. His books include Vision and Design (1920) and Cézanne (1927)
Stephen ( John ). born 1957, British writer, actor, and comedian; his novels include The Liar (1991) and The Stars' Tennis Balls (2000)
the young of various species of fish
the young of certain other animals, such as frogs
young children See also small fry
First recorded in 1250–1300; 1925–30 fry 1 for def. 2; Middle English frien, from Anglo-French, Old French frire, from Latin frīgere “to roast”
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English frie, fry “seed, descendant,” perhaps from Old Norse frjō “seed”; cognate with Swedish frö, Gothic fraiw “seed”
To fry food is to cook it in very hot oil until it's crispy. For breakfast, you could fry yourself an egg, and maybe fry some bacon to go with it. You can stir fry vegetables and deep fry doughnuts — and you have to be careful on a hot summer day not to (figuratively) fry yourself in the sun. When fry is a noun, it's usually short for "French fry," but it also means youngster, or "small fry." This less common meaning comes from Scottish, possibly from the Old Norse root frjo, "offspring."
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In a rollicking monologue, Fry described all opera as comedy, tragedy merely being the result of idiotic egos incapable of levity.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2026
Sir Stephen Fry has sued the organisers of a tech conference where he was injured when he fell off the stage after making a speech.
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026
Sunday’s performance of “Falstaff” was followed by a talk between Conlon and British actor, writer and startling wit, Stephen Fry.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2026
Or, as Naomi Fry of the New Yorker put it, Love Story is an “entirely convincing visual album, a lookbook of what it was like to be in New York in the ’90s.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026
All six-thousand hippopotamus pounds of Fry dive for my ankles.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
