[f. FRET sb.1 + WORK sb.]
1. Arch. Carved work in decorative patterns consisting largely of intersecting lines, esp. as used in the decoration of ceilings.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXXVI. xxiv. II. 595. Plastre serveth passing well to white wals or seeling; also for to make little images in fretworke, to set forth houses.
c. 1710. C. Fiennes, Diary (1888), 144. Ye Church is new and very handsome, good frettworke on ye top, the wood worke well Carv’d, its seates good wanscoate and with locks.
1768. Gray, in Corr. w. N. Nicholls (1843), 81. The wooden fretwork of the north isle you may copy, when you build the best room of your new Gothic parsonage, it will cost but a trifle.
1823. Byron, Juan, XII. lxii. The gale sweeps through its fretwork.
1851. Miss Yonge, Cameos (1877), II. xiv. 149. In the darkest recess of the massive romanesque church, Pedro erected for her [Ines] and for himself a sepulchral chapel, and a tomb rich in fretwork and imagery, and bearing her effigy in the queenly raiment that she had only worn in death.
transf. and fig. 1693. W. Freke, Sel. Ess., Apol. 6. If therefore the sense and sincerity of my Work has been full and just, I think I may well leave the Fretwork and Chequering it to an after part.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 414, 25 June, ¶ 2. The curious Fret-work of Rocks and Grottos.
1820. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. South Sea Ho. Moths … making fine fret-work among their single and double entries.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 353. Some party of pleasure banqueting on the turf in the fretwork of shade and sunshine.
attrib. 1634. Wither, Emblemes, 222.
| As hee, that in his Hall or Parlour dines, | |
| Which Fret-worke Roofes, or costly Cedar Lines. |
1799. R. Warner, Walk West. Counties (1800), 43. The magnificent cathedral of Wells, with its fret-work towers and elegant chapter-house, disclose themselves at intervals.
1807. Wordsw., White Doe, VII. 342.
| And floors encumbered with rich show | |
| Of fret-work imagery laid low. |
1841. T. J. Ouseley, Eng. Melodies, 146.
| It is not Love to watch the quiet scenes | |
| Of sunny Nature in her summer tire;— | |
| To gaze upon the leafy fret-work screens | |
| Of shadowy eve,—and track the glow-worm’s fire. |
1878. McVittie, Ch.-Ch. Cathedral, 75. The wall had a fret-work string course under the triforium arcade, which had been hacked off in the greater part, to prepare for plastering!
2. Wood-work cut with a fret-saw into ornamental designs.
1881. F. Young, Every man his own Mechanic, § 39. It [Hungarian Ash] is a difficult wood to cut, and is better adapted for backgrounds than for sawing as fret-work. Ibid., § 633. Fret-work consists chiefly in cutting out an open and elaborate design in thin wood.
3. Her.
1864. Boutell, Heraldry Hist. & Pop., vii. 32. This Frette-Work is supposed to be in relief upon the field.
4. (See quot.)
1859. Gwilt, Encycl. Arch., II. iii. (ed. 4), 586. Fretwork is the ornamental part of lead-light work, and consists in working ground or stained glass into different patterns and devices, as may be seen in the old stained glass windows.
Hence Fretworked ppl. a.
1875. J. H. Bennet, Winter Medit., IV. xix. 607. The friable nature of the sandstone rocks offering less resistance to the action of the Atlantic, they are excavated and fretworked into every conceivable shape.
