fresh
/fɹɛʃ/ adjective, adverb, noun, verb, proper noun
Forms fresher freshest freshes freshing freshed
- adjective Newly produced or obtained; recent. “He followed the fresh hoofprints to find the deer.”
- adjective (of food) Not dried, frozen, or spoiled. “After taking a beating in the boxing ring, the left side of his face looked like fresh meat.”
- adjective (botany) (of plant material) Still green and not dried.
- adjective Invigoratingly cool and refreshing. “What a nice fresh breeze.”
- adjective (of water) Without salt; not saline. “After a day at sea it was good to feel the fresh water of the stream.”
- adjective Rested; not tired or fatigued.
- adjective In a raw or untried state; uncultured; unpracticed. “a fresh hand on a ship”
- adjective Youthful; florid.
- adverb Recently; just recently; most recently. “We are fresh out of milk.”
- noun A rush of water, along a river or onto the land; a flood.
- noun A stream or spring of fresh water.
- noun 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 (commercial, fishing) To pack (fish) loosely on ice.
- verb To flood or dilute an area of salt water with flowing fresh water.
- verb (of wind) To become stronger.
- verb To rebore the barrel of a rifle or shotgun.
- verb To update.
- verb To freshen up.
- verb To renew.
- verb (agriculture, zoology) Of a dairy cow, to give birth to a calf.
Synonyms
cool rested callow experienceless inexperienced unexperienced green new punk pup raw strange unpracticed unseasoned unseen unversed fashionable bracing brisk refreshing refreshful tonic novel sweet invigorated refreshed reinvigorated unfermented clean unused
Antonyms
Etymology
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”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk frisk (“fresh”), Swedish frisk (“well, fresh”), 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.
First use appears c. 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.
Possibly an Americanized form of German Frisch.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Possessed of original life and vigor; new and strong; unimpaired; sound.
- adjective New; original; additional. "Fear of fresh mistakes." Sir W. Scott.
- noun A stream or spring of fresh water.
- noun A flood; a freshet. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.
Etymology [OE. fresch, AS. fersc; akin to D. versch, G. frisch, OHG. frisc, Sw. frisk, Dan. frisk, fersk, Icel. fr frisky, brisk, ferskr fresh; cf. It. fresco, OF. fres, freis, fem. freske, fresche, F. frais, fem. fra, which are of German origin. Cf. Fraischeur, Fresco, Frisk.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fresh”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details