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.

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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

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Etymology

Origin of fretwork

First recorded in 1595–1605; fret ² + work

Example Sentences

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

So we made a shirt with an extra sleeve in it, and a musician crouched behind doing the fretwork as Redden strummed.

From The Guardian • May 29, 2017

Gogol is accustomed to the scenery, yet he still stares, at the short, dark men pulling rickshaws and the crumbling buildings side by side with fretwork balconies, hammers and sickles painted on their facades.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Related Words

• color
• design
• finery
• ornament
• plaque
• ribbon
• trinket
• wreath