fress

See also: frëss

English

Etymology

From Yiddish פֿרעסן‎ (fresn) or German fressen (“to devour, gobble”), from Middle High German vrezzen, from Old High German frezzan (“to devour, eat up”), from Proto-West Germanic *fraetan, from Proto-Germanic *fraetaną (“to eat up”), from *fra- (intensive and perfective prefix) + *etaną (“to eat”), equivalent to for- +‎ eat. Cognate with Old English fretan (“to devour”). Doublet of fret.

In German, fressen (eat) and saufen (drink) are used about non-humans, whereas the corresponding words used about human behavior are essen and trinken. "Es trinkt der Mann, es säuft das Pferd / bei manchem ist es umgekehrt" ("the man drinks, the horse gulps it down / [but] with many it's the other way 'round") is a common humorous couplet in German with many variations (e.g., ...in Bayern ist es...)

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /fɹɛs/

Verb

fress (third-person singular simple present fresses, present participle fressing, simple past and past participle fressed)

  1. (obsolete outside dialects, e.g. Lunenburg, Nova Scotia) to eat without restraint; eat heartily
    Synonym: pig out

Further reading
  • 2004, Lewis Poteet, South Shore Phrase Book, iUniverse (→ISBN): "along the South Shore, especially in the Shelburne area[:] fress—eat"
  • Bill Casselman (1995) Casselman's Canadian Words: A Comic Browse Through Words and Folk Sayings Invented by Canadians: “FRESS To eat like an animal is to fress, a verb common in the area around Lunenburg , Nova Scotia. German immigrants introduced this word, from the German fressen 'to devour, to be gluttonous.' Originally the verb was an intensive form  […] ”
  • 2012, H.L. Mencken, American Language Supplement 2, Knopf, →ISBN:
    The dialect of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, which was settled by Germans in the Eighteenth Century, has been studied […] apple-snits (Ger. schnitte); lapish, insipid (Ger. láppisch); klotsy, heavy or soggy (Ger. klotzig); to fress, to eat greedily; […] shimmel, a very blond person (Ger. schimmel, a white mould), and Fassnakday, Shroove Tuesday (Ger. Fastnacht).

Anagrams

Icelandic

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /frɛsː/
    Rhymes: -ɛsː

Noun

fress n (genitive singular fress, nominative plural fress) or fress m (genitive singular fress, nominative plural fressar)

  1. tomcat

Declension
declension of fress
n-s singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative fress fressið fress fressin
accusative fress fressið fress fressin
dative fressi fressinu fressum fressunum
genitive fress fressins fressa fressanna

or

declension of fress
m-s1 singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative fress fressinn fressar fressarnir
accusative fress fressinn fressa fressana
dative fress fressinum fressum fressunum
genitive fress fressins fressa fressanna
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