Fresh as paint, as a rose, as a daisy, as a new-born turd, etc., phr.
(common).—Full of health, strength, and activity; fit (q.v.).
1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xix. This is his third day’s
rest, and the cob will be about as fresh as paint when I get across
him again.
1880. Punch’s Almanack, p. 12.
Fresh on the graft, adj. phr. (common).—New to the work. Cf., Fresh
bit.
Fresh Bit, subs. phr. (venery).—A beginner; also a new mistress. Cf.,
Bit of fresh = the sexual favour: meat, or mutton, or fish (q.v.),
being understood.
Freshen One’s Way, verb. phr. (nautical).—To hurry; to quicken one’s
movements. [The wind freshens when it rises.]
Freshen Up, verb. phr. (colloquial). To clean; to vamp; to revive; to
smarten.
Fresher, subs. (University).—An undergraduate in his first term.
Freshers. The Freshers, subs. (University).—That part of the Cam which
lies between the Mill and Byron’s Pool. So called because it is
frequented by freshmen (q.v.).
Freshman (or Fresher), subs. (University).—A University man during his
first year. In Dublin University he is a junior freshman during his
first year, and a senior freshman the Second year. At Oxford the title
lasts for the first term. Ger., Fuchs.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, in wks. iii., 8. When he was but yet a
freshman in Cambridge.
1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, Act iii., Sc. 3. S. Alex. Then he’s
a graduate. S. Davy. Say they trust him not. S. Alex. Then is he
held a freshman and a sot.
1767. Colman, Oxonian in Town, ii., 3. And now I find you as dull
and melancholy as a freshman at college after a jobation.
1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, ch. xiv. ‘This is his third year,’
said the Doctor, ‘and he is only a freshman, having lost every
examination.’
1891. Sporting Life, 20 Mar. The mile, bar accidents, will be a
gift to B. C. Allen, of Corpus, who has more than maintained the
reputation he gained as a fresher.
Adj. (University).—Of, or pertaining to, a freshman, or a first year
student.
Freshmanship, subs. (old).—Of the quality or state of being a freshman.
1605. Jonson, Volpone, or the Fox, iv., 3. Well, wise Sir Pol.,
since you have practised thus, Upon my freshmanship, I’ll try your
salt-head With what proof it is against a counter-plot.
Freshman’s Bible, subs. phr. (University).—The University Calendar.
Freshman’s Church, subs. phr. (University).—The Pitt Press at
Cambridge. [From its ecclesiastical architecture.]
Freshman’s Landmark, subs. phr. (University).—King’s College Chapel,
Cambridge. [From the situation.]
Freshwater Mariner (or Seaman), subs. phr. (old).—A beggar shamming
sailor; a turnpike sailor (q.v.).
1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 48. These freshwater mariners,
their shipes were drowned in the playne of Salisbury. These kynde
... counterfet great losses on the sea.
1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Freshwater seamen, that
have never been on the Salt, or made any Voyage, meer Land-Men.
Freshwater Soldier, subs. phr. (old).—A raw recruit.
1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, Biancone. A goodly, great
milke-soppe, a fresh water soldier.
1603. Knolles, Hist. of the Turkes. The nobility, as freshwater
soldiers, which had never seen but some slight skirmishes, made
light account of the Turks.
1696. Nomenclator. Bachelier aux armes, nouveau ou jeune soudard. A
freshwater souldier: a young souldier: a novice: one that is
trayned up to serve in the field.
Fret, To fret one’s gizzard, guts, giblets, kidneys, cream, etc., verb.
phr. (common).—To get harassed and worried about trifles; to tear one’s
shirt (q.v.).
Friar, subs. (printers’).—A pale spot in a printed sheet. Fr., un moine
(= monk).
Frib, subs. (old).—A stick. For synonyms, see Toko.
1754. Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 43. A Jacob and frib; a
ladder and stick.
Fribble, subs. (old).—A trifler; a contemptible fop. [From the
character in Garrick’s Miss in her Teens (1747)].
1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1860. Thackeray, Four Georges. George IV. That fribble, the leader
of such men as Fox and Burke!
Friday-face, subs. (old).—A gloomy, dejected-looking man or woman.
[Probably from Friday being, ecclesiastically, the banyan day of the
week.] Fr., figure de carême.
1592. Greene, Groatsworth of Wit, in wks. xii., 120. The Foxe made
a Friday-face, counterfeiting sorrow.
1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1889. Gentleman’s Mag., June, p. 593. Friday-face is a term still
occasionally applied to a sour-visaged person; it was formerly in
very common use.
Friday-faced, adj. (old).—Mortified; melancholy; ‘sour-featured’
(Scott).
1592. John Day, Blind Beggar, Act iii., Sc. 2, p. 57. Can. No, you
Friday-fac’d frying-pan, it was to save us all from whipping or a
worse shame.
1606. Wily Beguiled (Hawkins Eng. Dr., iii., 356). Marry, out upon
him! What a Friday-fac’d slave it is! I think in my conscience his
face never keeps holiday.
Friend (or Little Friend), subs.—The menstrual flux or domestic
afflictions (q.v.), whose appearance is sometimes announced by the
formula ‘My little friend has come.’ Conventionalisms are queer;
poorly; changes (Irish); ‘the Captain’s at home’ (Grose). See Flag.
To go and see a sick friend, verb. phr. (venery).—To go on the loose.
See Greens.
Friend Charles. See Charles his friend.
Friendly Lead, subs. phr. (thieves’).—An entertainment (as a sing-song)
got up to assist a companion in trouble (q.v.), or to raise money for
the wife and children of a ‘quodded pal.’
1871. Daily Telegraph, 4 Dec. This was the secret business, the
tremendous conspiracy, to compass which it was deemed necessary to
act with infinitely more caution than the friends of Bill Sikes
feel called on to exercise when they distribute tickets for a
friendly lead for the benefit of Bill, who is ‘just out of his
trouble.’
1889. Cassell’s Saturday Journal, 5 Jan. The men frequently club
together in a friendly lead to help a brother in distress.
1892. Ally Sloper, 2 Apr., p. 106, col. 3. My father takes the
chair at friendly leads.
Friends in Need, subs. phr. (common).—Lice. For synonyms, see Chates.
Frig, verb trans. and refl. (venery).—To masturbate. Also subs. = an
act of masturbation. Known sometimes as keeping down the census.
[Latin, fricare = to rub.]
English Synonyms.—To bob; to box the Jesuit [‘St. Omer’s lewdness,’
Marston, ‘Scourge’ (1598)]; to chuff; to chuffer; to claw (Florio); to
digitate (of women); to eat (or get) cock-roaches; to bring up (or off)
by hand; to fight one’s turkey (Texan); to finger or finger-fuck (of
women); to friggle (Florio); to fuck one’s fist (of men); to fetch
mettle (Grose); to handle; to indorse; to jerk, play, pump, toss, or
work off; to lark; to milk; to mount a corporal and four; to mess, or
pull about; to play with (schoolboys’), to rub up; to shag; to tickle
one’s crack (of women); to dash one’s doodle; to touch up; to play
paw-paw tricks (Grose); to wriggle (old). For foreign synonyms, see
Wriggle.
1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Fricciare ... to frig, to
wriggle, to tickle.
1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Branler la pique, To Frig.
1728. Bailey, Dict., s.v. Frig, to rub.
c. 1716–1746. Robertson of Struan. Poems, 83. So to a House of
office ... a School-Boy does repair, To ... fr—— his P—— there.
1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
Frigate, subs. (common).—A woman.
1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Friggat well rigg’d, a
woman well drest and gentile.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. A well-rigg’d frigate, a well-dressed
wench.
Frigging, subs. (venery).—1. The act of masturbation; the ‘cynick
friction’ (Marston, Scourge); otherwise simple infanticide.