frist

/fɹɪst/

frist noun: a certain space or period of time; respite.

Noun

frist (countable and uncountable, plural frists)

(obsolete) A certain space or period of time; respite.
(UK, dialectal) Time allotted for repayment; a term (in which a debt is to be repaid); a delay; respite; suspension.
- His was a short frist (He had a short life).
- Yitt they caused the lordis that war vpoun on the panell, that schould have thoalled judgment, to find cautioun everie ane of thame, vnder the paine of certane soumes, to answer at ane certane apoynted to thame. Yitt all thir lordis war verrie blyth, think and that all evill was guid of frist, in...1578, Robert Lindsay, The Cronicles of Scotland
(UK, dialectal) Credit; trust.
- Sald tham to fryst to a man of the Hag, […]
  Sold them to frist to a man of The Hague, […]1492–1503, Andrew Halyburton, Andrew Halyburton's ledger
- Ane dyvour coffe, that wirry hen, / Distroyis the honor of our natioun, / Takis gudis to frist fra fremmit men, / And brekis his obligatioun.
- One bankrupt rouge , that wirry hen, / destroys the honor of our nation / takes goods to frist from fremd men, / and breaks his obligation.a1568, Sir David Lindsay, Ane Discriptioun of Peder Coffeis

Verb

frist (third-person singular simple present frists, present participle fristing, simple past and past participle fristed)

(UK, dialectal) To grant respite; especially, to give a debtor credit or time for payment.
(UK, ambitransitive, dialectal) To defer; postpone.
- Now, in the strength of Jesus, dispatch your business; that debt is not forgiven, but fristed: death hath not bidden you farewel, but hath only left you for a short season.1765, Samuel Rutherford, Joshua Redivivus, page 323
- Na, na, lassie. Dinna be too confident. “What's fristed is no forgotten."1884, Lucy Ellen Guernsey, Loveday's History: A Tale of Many Changes, page 105

Examples of frist in a sentence

My time is short, my frist is o'er, and I have much to say.1888, Murray's Magazine:
Credit and frist is quyte away, / No thing is lent bot for usure; […]c. 1568, William Lauder, The Lamenatioun of The Pure:

Forms of frist

Noun
plural	frists
Verb
third-person singular present	frists
present participle	fristing
past participle	fristed
past	fristed

Origin of frist

From Middle English *frist, frest, first, furst, from Old English fierst (“period, space of time, time, respite, truce”), from Proto-Germanic *fristiz, *frestą (“date, appointed time”), from Proto-Indo-European *pres-, *per- (“forward, forth, over, beyond”). Cognate with North Frisian ferst, frest (“period, time”), German Frist (“period, deadline, term”), Swedish frist (“deadline, respite, reprieve, time-limit”), Icelandic frestur (“period”). See also first.

From Middle English *fristen, frysten, fresten, firsten, from Old English *fyrstan (“to defer, delay, put off”), from fyrst, fierst, first (“period, space of time, time, respite, truce”). See Etymology 1. Cognate with Low German versten, German fristen (“to eke out”), Danish friste (“to sustain, support, experience, tempt”), Icelandic fresta (“to delay”).

Words formed from frist

fristing

Words that rhyme with frist

43 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about frist

What does frist mean?: Frist means a certain space or period of time; respite.
How do you use frist in a sentence?: My time is short, my frist is o'er, and I have much to say.
What part of speech is frist?: Frist can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce frist?: Frist is pronounced /fɹɪst/.
What is the plural of frist?: The plural of frist is frists.

Words near frist in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: frist (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)-Vealhurl-frist.wav.

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