Fresh

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fɹɛʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɛʃ

From Middle English fresch, fersch, from Old English fersc ("fresh, pure, sweet"), from Proto-Germanic *friskaz ("fresh"), from Proto-Indo-European *preisk- ("fresh"). Cognate with Scots fresch ("fresh"), West Frisian farsk ("fresh"), Dutch vers ("fresh"), Walloon frexh ("fresh"), German frisch ("fresh"), French frais ("fresh"), Danish frisk ("fresh"), fersk, Icelandic ferskur ("fresh"), Lithuanian prėskas ("unflavoured, tasteless, fresh"), Russian пресный (pr'ésnyj, "sweet, fresh, unleavened, tasteless").

Full definition of fresh

Adjective

1. Newly produced or obtained.He followed the fresh hoofprints to find the deer.I seem to make fresh mistakes every time I start writing.
2. Not cooked, dried, frozen, or spoiled.After taking a beating in the boxing ring, the left side of his face looked like fresh meat.I brought home from the market a nice bunch of fresh spinach leaves straight from the farm.a glass of fresh milk
3. (of plant material) Still green and not dried.
• Schuster Hepaticae V|viiWith fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get...
4. Refreshing or cool.What a nice fresh breeze.
5. (of water) Without salt; not saline.After a day at sea it was good to feel the fresh water of the stream.
• a. 1628 Sir Francis Drake (?), The World Encompassed, Nicholas Bourne (publisher, 1628), page 49:There we made our Å¿hip faÅ¿t with foure ropes, in Å¿mooth water, and the freÅ¿h water ranne downe out of the hill into the Å¿ea, ...
• 1820, William Scoresby, An Account of the Arctic Regions, Archibald Constable & Co., page 230:When dissolved, it produces water sometimes perfectly fresh, and sometimes saltish; ...
• 2009, Adele Pillitteri, Maternal and Child Health Nursing, Sixth Edition, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, ISBN 9781582559995, page 1557:Additional changes that occur when water enters the lungs depend on whether the water is fresh or salt.
6. Rested; not tired or fatigued.
• 2010, December 29, Sam Sheringham, Liverpool 0 - 1 WolverhamptonBefore the match, Hodgson had expressed the hope that his players would be fresh rather than rusty after an 18-day break from league commitments because of two successive postponements.
7. In a raw or untried state; uncultured; unpracticed.a fresh hand on a ship
8. youthful; florid
• Shakespearethese fresh nymphs
9. (computing, of a release package or software installation) Having only the files and settings of a specific release of the software package; without updates or upgrades that were released subsequent to the release of a specific version.A fresh installation of Windows XP has Internet Explorer version 6.QA uses a fresh copy of the old version to test backward-compatibility of new add-ons.

Synonyms

Antonyms

• stale

Derived terms

Noun

1. A rush of water, along a river or onto the land; a flood.
• 1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett (Nebraska, 1987), page 21:They went on very well with their work until it was nigh done, when there came the second epistle to Noah's fresh, and away went their mill, shot, lock, and barrel.
2. A stream or spring of fresh water.
• ShakespeareHe shall drink naught but brine; for I'll not show him
  Where the quick freshes are.
3. The mingling of fresh water with salt in rivers or bays, as by means of a flood of fresh water flowing toward or into the sea.

1848, US slang, probably from German frech ("impudent, cheeky, insolent"), from Middle High German vrech ("bold, brave, lively"), from Old High German freh ("greedy, eager, avaricious, covetous"), from Proto-Germanic *frekaz ("greedy, outrageous, courageous, capable, active"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pereg- ("to be quick, twitch, sprinkle, splash"). Cognate with Old English frec ("greedy; eager, bold, daring; dangerous"). More at freak.

Adjective

1. Rude, cheeky, or inappropriate; presumptuous; disrespectful; forward.No one liked his fresh comments.
2. Sexually aggressive or forward; prone to caress too eagerly; overly flirtatious.Hey, don't get fresh with me!

Derived terms

Synonyms