fretty
1 Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of fretty1
First recorded in 1835–45; fret 1 + -y 1
Origin of fretty2
1555–65; < Middle French frette, derivative of frete trelliswork. See fret 2, -ee
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Miss Lizzy, she gets fretty, but she still the same Miss Lizzy.
From "Girls Like Us" by Gail Giles
He couldn't imagine her irritable or fretty or snappy.
From The Trail of Conflict by Emilie Baker Loring
O'Connell's speeches are the old thing: fretty, boastful, frothy, waspish at the voices in the crowd, and all that: but with no true greatness. . . .
From The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. I-III, Complete by John Forster
Ecclesiastical vestments were often trimmed with heavy gold fringe, knotted "fretty wise," and the embroideries were further enriched with jewels and small plaques of enamel.
From Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages A Description of Mediaeval Workmanship in Several of the Departments of Applied Art, Together with Some Account of Special Artisans in the Early Renaissance by Julia de Wolf Gibbs Addison
Boxhull bore “Gold a lion azure fretty silver.”
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 3 "Helmont, Jean" to "Hernosand" by Various
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.
