Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Jump to:
  • fry
    fry
    verb (used with object)
    to cook in a pan or on a griddle over direct heat, usually in fat or oil.
  • Fry
    Fry
    noun
    Christopher, 1907–2005, English playwright.
Synonyms

fry

1 American  
[frahy] / fraɪ /

verb (used with object)

fried, frying
  1. to cook in a pan or on a griddle over direct heat, usually in fat or oil.

  2. Slang. to execute by electrocution in an electric chair.


verb (used without object)

fried, frying
  1. to undergo cooking in fat or oil.

  2. Slang. to die by electrocution in an electric chair.

noun

plural

fries
  1. a dish of something fried.

  2. a piece of french-fried potato.

  3. a party or gathering at which the chief food is fried, frequently outdoors.

    a fish fry.

fry 2 American  
[frahy] / fraɪ /

noun

plural

fry, fry, fries
  1. a young fish.

    a salmon fry.

  2. a young animal of certain other kinds, as frogs and oysters.

  3. a person, especially a young or unimportant one.

    The prime minister had to bank on the cooperation of lesser fry.


Fry 3 American  
[frahy] / fraɪ /

noun

  1. Christopher, 1907–2005, English playwright.


fry 1 British  
/ fraɪ /

verb

  1. to cook or be cooked in fat, oil, etc, usually over direct heat

  2. informal (intr) to be excessively hot

  3. slang to kill or be killed by electrocution, esp in the electric chair

"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

noun

  1. a dish of something fried, esp the offal of a specified animal

    pig's fry

  2. a social occasion, often outdoors, at which the chief food is fried

  3. informal the act of preparing a mixed fried dish or the dish itself

"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
Fry 2 British  
/ fraɪ /

noun

  1. 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)

  2. Elizabeth . 1780–1845, English prison reformer and Quaker

  3. 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)

  4. Stephen ( John ). born 1957, British writer, actor, and comedian; his novels include The Liar (1991) and The Stars' Tennis Balls (2000)

"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

fry 3 British  
/ fraɪ /

plural noun

  1. the young of various species of fish

  2. the young of certain other animals, such as frogs

  3. young children See also small fry

"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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of fry1

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”

Origin of fry2

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English frie, fry “seed, descendant,” perhaps from Old Norse frjō “seed”; cognate with Swedish frö, Gothic fraiw “seed”

Explanation

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."

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing fry

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.

FRY, Mr., on fertile hybrid cats. -on feral fowls in Ascension.

From The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication — Volume 2 by Darwin, Charles

FRY, the name of a well-known English Quaker family, originally living in Wiltshire.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 3 "Frost" to "Fyzabad" by Various

FRY has re-captured the title of amateur champion seven-and-twenty years after he first won it, there is such interest in the game that a kind of Guide to Billiard Types cannot but be of value.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, February 19, 1919 by Various

We commend their efforts to work within the FRY for reforms that would bring democracy and a better life to all Yugoslav citizens.

From After the Rain : how the West lost the East by Vaknin, Samuel

TO FRY RABBITS, Having washed the rabbits well, put them into a pan of cold water, and let them lie in it two or three hours.

From Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches by Leslie, Eliza