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FRET

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 210 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FRET . (I) (From O. Eng. fretan, a word See also:

common in various forms to See also:Teutonic See also:languages; cf. Ger. fressen, to eat greedily), properl4 to devour, hence to gnaw, so used of the slow corrodingaction of chemicals, See also:water, &c., and hence, figuratively, to chafe or irritate. Possibly connected with this word, in sense of rubbing, is the use of " fret " for a See also:bar on the fingerboard of a See also:banjo, See also:guitar, or similar musical See also:instruments to See also:mark the fingering. (2) (Of doubtful origin; possibly from the O. Eng. frcetive, ornaments, but its use is paralleled by the Fr. frette, trellis or lattice), network, a See also:term used in See also:heraldry for an interlaced figure, but best known as applied to the decoration used by the Greeks in their temples and vases: the See also:Greek fret consists of a See also:series of narrow bands of different lengths, placed at right angles to one another, and of See also:great variety of See also:design. It is an See also:ornament which owes its origin to See also:woven fabrics, and is found on the ceilings of the See also:Egyptian tombs at Benihasan, Siout and elsewhere. In Greek See also:work it was painted on the See also:abacus of the Doric See also:capital and probably on the architraves of their temples; when employed by the See also:Romans it was generally carved; the See also:Propylaea of the See also:temple at See also:Damascus and the temple at Atil being examples of the 2nd See also:century. It was carved in large dimensions on some of the Mexican temples, as for instance on the See also:palace at Mitla with other decorative bands, all of which would seem to have been reproductions of woven patterns, and had therefore an See also:independent origin. It is found in See also:China and See also:Japan, and in the latter See also:country when painted on See also:lacquer is employed as a fret-See also:diaper, the bands not being at right angles to one another but forming acute and obtuse angles. In old See also:English writers a wider signification was given to it, as it was applied to raised patterns in See also:plaster on See also:roofs or ceilings, which were not confined to the geometrical fret but extended to the modelling of See also:flowers, leaves and See also:fruit; in such cases the decoration was known as fret-work.

End of Article: FRET

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