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,
