frieze

/ˈfɹiːz/

frieze noun: a kind of coarse woollen cloth or stuff with a shaggy or tufted (friezed) nap on one side.

Noun (1)

frieze (countable and uncountable, plural friezes)

A kind of coarse woollen cloth or stuff with a shaggy or tufted (friezed) nap on one side.
- [I]f a plaine fellow well and cleanely apparelled, either in home-ſpun ruſſet or freeze (as the ſeaſon requires) with a five pouch at his girdle, happen to appeare in his ruſticall likenes: there is a Cozen ſaies one, At which word out flies the Taker, and thus giues the onſet vpon my olde...1608, [Thomas Dekker], “Of Barnards Law”, in The Belman of London. […], London: […] [Edward Allde and Nicholas Okes] for Nathaniel Butter, →OCLC, signature F, verso
- This dark, frieze-coated, hoarse, teeth-chattering month […]1796, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, On Observing a Blossom on the First of February 1796

Verb (1)

frieze (third-person singular simple present friezes, present participle friezing, simple past and past participle friezed)

(transitive) To make a nap on (cloth); to frizz.

Noun (2)

frieze (plural friezes)

The portion of an architectural entablature situated between the architrave and the cornice, consisting of a flat surface that may be continuous or articulated by triglyphs and is often decorated with sculptural figures and ornamental details.
(broadly) Any sculptured or richly ornamented band in a building or in rich pieces of furniture.
- The narrative frieze, which was derived from the scenes on steles and seals, became the most important aspect of Assyrian art.1993, Funk & Wagnalls Corporation, Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, volume 17, page 205
A banner with a series of pictures.
- The classroom had an alphabet frieze that showed an animal for each letter.

Verb (2)

frieze (third-person singular simple present friezes, present participle friezing, simple past and past participle friezed)

(transitive) To put a frieze on.

Proper noun capitalized: Frieze

Frieze (plural Friezes)

A surname.

frieze meaning in Tamil, Arabic and Persian

frieze in Arabic

architecture: space between architrave and cornice: إِفْرِيز ʔifrīz

frieze in Persian

architecture: space between architrave and cornice: حاشیه زینتی hâshiye zînye

Examples of frieze in a sentence

From beggar's frieze to monarch's robe, / One common doom is pass'd; / Sweet nature's works, the swelling globe, / Must all burn out at last.1829, Charles Sprague, To My Cigar:
"You may shoot, or you may not," cried Scarrow, striking his hand upon the breast of his frieze jacket.1897, Arthur Conan Doyle, How the Governor of Saint Kitt's came Home:

Forms of frieze

Noun
plural	friezes
alternative form	freeze
Verb
third-person singular present	friezes
present participle	friezing
past participle	friezed
past	friezed
Proper noun
plural	Friezes

Plural of frieze: friezes

Origin of frieze

Late Middle English, from French and Middle French frise, probably from Medieval Latin Frisia (“Frisian (wool)”) due to import via Northern ships. Or, from French friser (“to curl”)..

From French and Middle French frise f, derived from an Upper Italian fris f, Medieval Latin frisum, frisium, frigium, frixum, frigium, of controversial origin, possibly from multiple sources, Arabic إِفْرِيز (ʔifrīz, “king beam, cornice”) and Latin opus Phrygium (“a kind of embroidery”, literally “work of Phrygia”), the demonym Frisian and terms related to the textile term above in a transferred sense.

Probably a spelling variant of Fries and Frees.

Words formed from frieze

Phrases with frieze

frieze groups

Words that rhyme with frieze

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about frieze

What does frieze mean?: Frieze means a kind of coarse woollen cloth or stuff with a shaggy or tufted (friezed) nap on one side.
What is frieze in Tamil?: Frieze in Tamil is பட்டை. See Frieze meaning in Tamil.
How do you use frieze in a sentence?: From beggar's frieze to monarch's robe, / One common doom is pass'd; / Sweet nature's works, the swelling globe, / Must all burn out at last.
What part of speech is frieze?: Frieze can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce frieze?: Frieze is pronounced /ˈfɹiːz/.
What is the plural of frieze?: The plural of frieze is friezes.

Words near frieze in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: frieze (page history and authors); Frieze (page history and authors); frieze (Tamil Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-frieze.wav.

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