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Fret vs Sting - What's the difference?

fret | sting | Related terms |

Fret is a related term of sting.


As an adjective fret

is cold.

As a noun sting is

a bump left on the skin after having been stung.

As a verb sting is

to hurt, usually by introducing poison or a sharp point, or both.

fret

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .

Verb

  • To devour, consume; eat.
  • * (rfdate)— Piers Ploughman.
  • Adam freet of that fruit, And forsook the love of our Lord.
  • * Wiseman
  • Many wheals arose, and fretted one into another with great excoriation.
  • (transitive, and, intransitive) To gnaw, consume, eat away.
  • To be worn away; to chafe; to fray.
  • A wristband frets on the edges.
  • To cut through with fretsaw, create fretwork.
  • To chafe or irritate; to worry.
  • To worry or be anxious.
  • * , chapter=5
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.}}
  • To be vexed; to be chafed or irritated; to be angry; to utter peevish expressions.
  • *
  • *:Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
  • * Dryden
  • He frets , he fumes, he stares, he stamps the ground.
  • To make rough, agitate, or disturb; to cause to ripple.
  • to fret the surface of water
  • To be agitated; to be in violent commotion; to rankle.
  • Rancour frets in the malignant breast.
  • (music) To press down the string behind a fret.
  • To ornament with raised work; to variegate; to diversify.
  • * Spenser
  • whose skirt with gold was fretted all about
  • * Shakespeare
  • Yon grey lines, / That fret the clouds, are messengers of day.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
  • (Addison)
  • Agitation of mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation.
  • He keeps his mind in a continual fret .
  • * Pope
  • Yet then did Dennis rave in furious fret .
  • Herpes; tetter.
  • (Dunglison)
  • (mining, in the plural) The worn sides of river banks, where ores, or stones containing them, accumulate by being washed down from the hills, and thus indicate to the miners the locality of the veins.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) < (etyl), from the verb (m).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (music) One of the pieces of metal/wood/plastic across the neck of a guitar or other musical instrument that marks note positions for fingering.
  • An ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines (often in relief).
  • * Evelyn
  • His lady's cabinet is adorned on the fret , ceiling, and chimney-piece with carving.
  • (heraldiccharge) A saltire interlaced with a mascle.
  • Derived terms
    * fretboard

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A strait; channel.
  • Etymology 4

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (dialectal, North East England) A fog or mist at sea or coming inland from the sea.
  • Anagrams

    * ----

    sting

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A bump left on the skin after having been stung.
  • A bite by an insect.
  • A pointed portion of an insect or arachnid used for attack.
  • A sharp, localised pain primarily on the epidermis
  • (botany) A sharp-pointed hollow hair seated on a gland which secretes an acrid fluid, as in nettles.
  • The thrust of a sting into the flesh; the act of stinging; a wound inflicted by stinging.
  • * Shakespeare
  • the lurking serpent's mortal sting
  • (law enforcement) A police operation in which the police pretend to be criminals in order to catch a criminal.
  • A short percussive phrase played by a drummer to accent the punchline in a comedy show.
  • A brief sequence of music used in films, TV as a form of punctuation in a dramatic or comedic scene. In certain videogames stings are used to predict immediate future actions or to illustrate a current tension or mood.
  • A support for a wind tunnel model which extends parallel to the air flow.
  • *
  • (figurative) The harmful or painful part of something.
  • * Bible, 1 Corinthians xv. 56
  • The sting of death is sin.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=January 19 , author=Jonathan Stevenson , title=Leeds 1 - 3 Arsenal , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Just as it appeared Arsenal had taken the sting out of the tie, Johnson produced a moment of outrageous quality, thundering a bullet of a left foot shot out of the blue and into the top left-hand corner of Wojciech Szczesny's net with the Pole grasping at thin air. }}
  • A goad; incitement.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • The point of an epigram or other sarcastic saying.
  • Synonyms
    * (pointed portion of an insect) stinger

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) stingen, from (etyl) . Compare Swedish and Icelandic stinga.

    Verb

  • To hurt, usually by introducing poison or a sharp point, or both.
  • Right so came out an adder of a little heathbush, and it stung a knight in the foot.
    Still, it stung when a slightly older acquaintance asked me why I couldn't do any better.
  • (of an insect) To bite.
  • (sometimes figurative) To hurt, to be in pain.
  • My hand stings after knocking on the door so long.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=January 11 , author=Jonathan Stevenson , title=West Ham 2 - 1 Birmingham , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=But Birmingham were clearly stung by some harsh words from manager Alex McLeish at the break and within 15 minutes of the restart the game had an entirely different complexion.}}
  • (figurative) To cause harm or pain to.
  • I thought I could park in front of the hotel, but they stung me for five pounds!
    Derived terms
    * sting like a bee * stingy

    Anagrams

    * English irregular verbs ----