fress

See also: frëss

English

Etymology

From German fressen (“to eat, devour, gobble”) and/or Yiddish פֿרעסן (fresn), both from Middle High German vrezzen, from Old High German frezzan (“to 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.

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

• Lewis Poteet (2004) “along the South Shore, especially in the Shelburne area[:] fress—eat”, in South Shore Phrase Book, iUniverse, →ISBN
• 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

• serfs

German

Verb

fress

1. (colloquial) first-person singular present of fressen

   Synonym: (standard) fresse

2. (colloquial) singular imperative of fressen

   Synonym: (standard) friss

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 (neuter)

	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

Declension of fress (masculine)

	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