Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A firth.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A narrow arm of the sea; an estuary; the opening of a river into the sea: used specifically in Scotland only, where firth is the commoner form: as, the Firth of Forth; the Frith of Clyde.
  • noun A kind of weir for catching fish; a kind of net.
  • noun Peace; security; freedom from molestation.
  • noun A treaty or agreement of peace made between two contending kingdoms or districts.
  • noun A piece of land inclosed for the preservation of game; a park or forest for game; hence, a forest or woody place in general; a hedge; a coppice.
  • noun A small field taken out of a common.
  • noun Ground overgrown with bushes or underwood; a field which has been taken from woods.
  • To protect; guard.
  • To inclose; fence in, as a forest or park.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Geog.) A narrow arm of the sea; an estuary; the opening of a river into the sea. Also called firth.
  • noun engraving A kind of weir for catching fish.
  • noun obsolete A forest; a woody place.
  • noun obsolete A small field taken out of a common, by inclosing it; an inclosure.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative form of firth.
  • noun a wood, woodland, forest; undergrowth, brushwood
  • noun rare or archaic Peace; security.
  • noun obsolete Sanctuary, asylum.
  • verb transitive, obsolete To protect; guard.
  • verb transitive, obsolete To inclose; fence in, as a forest or park.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of firth.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

See firth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English frith, firth ("forest, game preserve"), from Old English fyrhþe, fyrhþ ("forest, sparse woodland, game preserve"), from Proto-Germanic *furhiþja- (“fir-wood, forest”), from Proto-Indo-European *perkʷu- (“coniferous forest, mountain forest, wooded height”). Cognate with Old High German forst, foreht ("forest"), Old Norse fȳri ("pine-wood, coniferous forest"), Old English fyrh ("fir, pine"). More at forest.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English frithien, from Old English friþian ("to give frith to, make peace with, be at peace with, cherish, protect, guard, defend, keep, observe"), from Proto-Germanic *friþōnan (“to make peace, secure, protect”), from Proto-Indo-European *prēy-, *prāy- (“to like, love”). Cognate with Scots frethe, freith ("to set free, liberate"), Danish frede ("to have peace, protect, inclose, fence in"), Swedish freda ("to cover, protect, quiet, inclose, fence in"), Icelandic friða ("to make peace, preserve").

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Examples

  • The frith is the Dumfries-shire Solway, the castle a

    Red Cap Tales Stolen from the Treasure Chest of the Wizard of the North Samuel Rutherford Crockett

  • Should the writer use 'frith' instead of 'peace', or 'burh' instead of 'fort', or 'cyrtel' instead of 'dress', or 'hegge' instead of 'fence'?

    Archaic terminology in historical fiction Carla 2006

  • The punishment of one who was guilty of breaking his "frith" was practically banishment or death.

    London and the Kingdom - Volume I

  • A complete code of ordinances, regulating this "frith" or peace gild, as it was called, drawn up by the bishops and reeves of the burgh, and confirmed by the members on oath, is still preserved to us. (

    London and the Kingdom - Volume I

  • These differed from their predecessors, the religious or frith guilds, by being established primarily for the purpose of obtaining and maintaining the privilege of carrying on trade.

    The Guilds 2007

  • Subsequent enactments down to the time of Athelstan 925-940 show that they soon developed into frith guilds or peace guilds, associations with a corporate responsibility for the good conduct of their members and their mutual liability.

    The Guilds 2007

  • Talbot then gave the young man a letter to the commander of one of the English vessels of war cruising in the frith, requesting him to put the bearer ashore at Berwick, with a pass to proceed to — — shire.

    Waverley 2004

  • Brave sons of the mountain, the frith, and the lake!

    Waverley 2004

  • The Clyde we left a little on our left-hand at Dunbritton, where it widens into an aestuary or frith, being augmented by the influx of the Leven.

    The Expedition of Humphry Clinker 2004

  • And so the cause efficient remaining, it would have continually followed along our coasts through the narrow seas, which it doeth not, but is digested about the north of Labrador by some through passage there through this frith.

    The North-West Passage 2003

Comments

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  • From the same root as friend and free.

    January 5, 2007

  • Indeed, from the same root as fir.

    December 4, 2024