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fretwork

American  
[fret-wurk] / ˈfrɛtˌwɜrk /

noun

  1. ornamental work consisting of interlacing parts, especially work in which the design is formed by perforation.

  2. any pattern of dark and light, such as that of perforated fretwork.

fretwork British  
/ ˈfrɛtˌwɜːk /

noun

  1. decorative geometrical carving or openwork

  2. any similar pattern of light and dark

  3. ornamental work of three-dimensional frets

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of fretwork

First recorded in 1595–1605; fret 2 + work

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.

Its fretwork of thin glass tubes was bent and shaped to resemble an old-fashioned bellows camera.

From Washington Post • Apr. 16, 2023

And Wolfgang Van Halen delivered flawless renditions of his father's fretwork on covers of pop-metal classics Panama and Hot For Teacher.

From BBC • Sep. 28, 2022

The 71-foot-high glass pyramid he built as the Louvre’s new entrance relied for its extraordinary visual lightness on a fretwork of stainless-steel rods and cables made by a manufacturer of yacht rigging.

From Seattle Times • May 16, 2019

Along the way War has mastered lyric writing, a tool now as keen as her fretwork.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 2, 2018

Here a fretwork wooden chef on his back, holding a board on which remains chalked today’s soup.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

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.