fry
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: frī, IPA(key): /fɹaɪ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪ
Etymology 1
From Middle English frien, borrowed from Old French frire, from Latin frīgō (“to roast, fry”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-. Cognate with Ancient Greek φρύγω (phrúgō, “I roast, bake”), Sanskrit भृज्ज् (bhṛjjati, “to roast, grill, fry”), भृग् (bhṛg, “the crackling of fire”)
Verb
fry (third-person singular simple present fries, present participle frying, simple past and past participle fried)
- A method of cooking food.
- To be affected by extreme heat or current.
- (intransitive, colloquial) To suffer because of too much heat.
- You'll fry if you go out in this sun with no sunblock on.
- (intransitive, slang) To be executed by the electric chair.
- He's guilty of murder — he's going to fry.
- (transitive, informal) To destroy (something, usually electronic) with excessive heat, voltage, or current.
- If you apply that much voltage, you'll fry the resistor.
- (intransitive, colloquial) To suffer because of too much heat.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:cook
Derived terms
Translations
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Noun
fry (plural fries)
- (usually in the plural, fries, chiefly Canada and US) A fried strip of potato.
- Synonyms: chip, french fry
- (Ireland, Britain) A meal of fried sausages, bacon, eggs, etc.
- Synonym: fry-up
- (colloquial, archaic) A state of excitement.
- to be in a fry
Related terms
Translations
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Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for fry in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)
Etymology 2
From Middle English fry (“seed, offspring”), from Old Norse frjó (“seed, semen”), from Proto-Germanic *fraiwą (“seed, semen, offspring”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)per-, *(s)prei- (“to strew, sow”). Cognate with Icelandic frjó (“pollen, seed”), Icelandic fræ (“seed”), Swedish frö (“seed, embryo, grain, germ”), Danish and Norwegian frø (“seed”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍅 (fraiw, “seed”).
Noun
fry (uncountable)
- (now chiefly Britain dialectal) Offspring; progeny; children; brood.
- Young fish; fishlings.
- 1644, John Milton, Aeropagitica:
- it is not possible for man to sever the wheat from the tares, the good fish from the other frie; that must be the Angels Ministery at the end of mortall things.
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- (archaic) A swarm, especially of something small.
- a fry of children
- (Britain dialectal) The spawn of frogs.
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 3
Dialectal, of obscure origin.