unfret

Verb

unfret (third-person singular simple present unfrets, present participle unfretting, simple past and past participle unfretted)

1. (transitive) To smooth after being fretted.
   • My mind misgives: to Joppa will I fly, And for a while to Tharsus shape my course, Until the Lord unfret his angry brows.1590, Thomas Lodge and Robert Greene, A Looking Glass for London and England
   • For how many floodings must it assuage, For how many shufflings must it unfret Those winking, muttering banks with its aching arch.1956, Shenandoah - Volumes 8-9, page 65
2. (ambitransitive, broadly) To sooth or calm; to make or become less fretful or stressed.
   • "She'll be all right," Madge assured him. "Now you go out a while, and unfret yourself. It's a boy you've got."1936, Frederick Stallknecht Wight, The Chronicle of Aaron Kane, page 28
   • Fall back and unfret yourself, Ol' Fuzzer!2003, Milton Arthur Caniff, Steve Canyon, 1948, page 11
3. To remove (a string) from the frets of a musical instrument.
   • Just as several notes can be played on a single bow, the guitarist can play several notes with a single pluck, using legato or ligado techniques in which the left hand continues to fret or unfret notes after the string has been plucked.1985, John Schneider, The Contemporary Guitar, page 108
   • To avoid confusion, a 0 appears if, as is usually the case, the string is to be unfretted;2011, Ken Perlman, Celtic and New England Fiddle Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo, page 6