fresh

English Online Dictionary. What means fresh‎? What does fresh mean?

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɹɛʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɛʃ

Etymology 1

From Middle English fressh, from Old English fersċ (“fresh, pure, sweet”), from Proto-West Germanic *frisk (“fresh”), from Proto-Germanic *friskaz (“fresh”), from Proto-Indo-European *preysk- (“fresh”). The verb is from Middle English freshen (“to freshen”), from the adjective.

Cognate with Scots fresch (“fresh”), West Frisian farsk (“fresh”), Dutch vers (“fresh”), Walloon frexh (“fresh”), German frisch (“fresh”), French frais (“fresh”), Norwegian and Danish frisk (“fresh”), fersk, Icelandic ferskur (“fresh”), Lithuanian prėskas (“unflavoured, tasteless, fresh”), Russian пре́сный (présnyj, “sweet, fresh, unleavened, tasteless”). Doublet of fresco and frisk.

Slang sense possibly shortened form of “fresh out the pack”, 1980s routine by Grand Wizzard Theodore.

Adjective

fresh (comparative fresher, superlative freshest)

1. Newly produced or obtained; recent.
2. (of food) Not dried, frozen, or spoiled.

   Antonym: stale
3. (of plant material) Still green and not dried.
4. Invigoratingly cool and refreshing.

   Synonym: cool
5. (of water) Without salt; not saline.

   Antonym: saline

   • a. 1628, Sir Francis Drake(?), The World Encompassed, Nicholas Bourne (publisher, 1628), page 49:
6. Rested; not tired or fatigued.

   Synonym: rested

   Antonym: tired
7. In a raw or untried state; uncultured; unpracticed.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:inexperienced

8. Youthful; florid.
9. (slang) Good, fashionable.

   Synonyms: cool, fashionable
10. (archaic, slang) Tipsy; drunk.

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

fresh (not comparable)

1. recently; just recently; most recently

Noun

fresh (plural freshes)

1. A rush of water, along a river or onto the land; a flood.
2. A stream or spring of fresh water.
3. The mingling of fresh water with salt in rivers or bays, as by means of a flood of fresh water flowing toward or into the sea.

Verb

fresh (third-person singular simple present freshes, present participle freshing, simple past and past participle freshed)

1. (commercial fishing) To pack (fish) loosely on ice.
2. To flood or dilute an area of salt water with flowing fresh water.
3. (of wind) To become stronger.
4. To rebore the barrel of a rifle or shotgun.
5. To update.
6. To freshen up.
7. To renew.
8. (of a dairy cow) to give birth to a calf.

References

Etymology 2

1848, US slang, probably from German frech (“impudent, cheeky, insolent”), from Middle High German vrech (“bold, brave, lively”), from Old High German freh (“greedy, eager, avaricious, covetous”), from Proto-West Germanic *frek, from Proto-Germanic *frekaz (“greedy, outrageous, courageous, capable, active”), from Proto-Indo-European *preg- (“to be quick, twitch, sprinkle, splash”).

Cognate with Old English frec (“greedy; eager, bold, daring; dangerous”) and Danish fræk (“naughty”). More at freak.

Adjective

fresh (comparative fresher, superlative freshest)

2. Rude, cheeky, or inappropriate; presumptuous; disrespectful; forward.

3. Sexually aggressive or forward; prone to caress too eagerly; overly flirtatious.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:cheeky

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Fehrs