fraise

UK/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈfɹɛjz/

fraise verb: to put in danger, in terror, or at risk. Also the alternative form of froise.

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Verb (1)

fraise (third-person singular simple present fraises, present participle fraising, simple past and past participle fraised)

(archaic, transitive) To put in danger, in terror, or at risk.

Noun (1)

fraise (plural fraises)

A type of palisade placed for defence around a berm; a defence consisting of pointed stakes driven into the ramparts in a horizontal or inclined position.
(historical) A ruff worn (especially by women) in the 16th century.
(historical) An embroidered scarf with its ends crossed over the chest and pinned, worn (especially by women) in the 19th century.
- Among the most conspicuous is the pelerine collar, made of black velvet, and forming a fraise round the throat. The fraise is lined with such light-colored silks as pink and blue, and the pelerine is piped with silk of the same color.1874, Peterson's Magazine - Volume 65, page 90
A fluted reamer for enlarging holes in stone; a small milling cutter.
A tool for cutting the teeth of a timepiece's wheel to correct inaccuracies.

Verb (2)

fraise (third-person singular simple present fraises, present participle fraising, simple past and past participle fraised)

To protect, as a line of troops, against an onset of cavalry, by opposing bayonets raised obliquely forward.
- to fraise a battaion is to line or cover it every way with bayonets1881, Thomas Wilhelm, A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

Noun (2)

fraise (plural fraises)

A stylized strawberry with leaves.
- The surname of Bernard is derived from the ancestor carrying, for his device, Argent, a bear rampant sable muzzled or; the name of Frazer from the bearing of fraises or strawberry leaves; and many other instances might be adduced ...1846, William Newton (Patent Agent), A Display of Heraldry, page 352
- Az. a fraise arg. between three garbs or, all within a bordure engrailed of the second. George Cumming (1790)1893, Sir James Balfour Paul, An Ordinary of Arms Contained in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, page 112

Noun (3)

fraise

(UK, dated, dialectal) Commotion.

Also used as

fraise is also the alternative form of froise.

Forms of fraise

Verb
third-person singular present	fraises
present participle	fraising
past participle	fraised
past	fraised
Noun
plural	fraises

Origin of fraise

From Middle English fraisen, from Old English frāsian (“to ask, try, tempt”), from Proto-Germanic *fraisōną (“to attempt, try”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to attempt, try; risk, peril”). Cognate with West Frisian freezje (“to fear”), Dutch vrezen (“to fear, dread, be afraid”), German freisen (“to put at risk, endanger, terrify”). Alternatively the Middle English fraisen was borrowed from Middle Dutch vreisen, vresen (“to be afraid; to endanger, threaten, frighten”), from Old Dutch *freisōn, *frēsōn, from the same Proto-West Germanic source above.

Borrowed from French fraise (“ruff”), fraiser; compare French friser (“curl”), perhaps from Provençal frezar; ultimately from Germanic.

See froise.

Words formed from fraise

fraised

Phrases with fraise

Words that rhyme with fraise

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about fraise

What does fraise mean?: Fraise means to put in danger, in terror, or at risk.
What part of speech is fraise?: Fraise can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce fraise?: Fraise is pronounced /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ (UK).
What is the past tense of fraise?: The past tense of fraise is fraised.

Words near fraise in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: fraise (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-phrase.ogg.

Cite this entry: “fraise.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fraise. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.