frory, frosty. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 8. 35. A Suffolk word (EDD.).
frosling, a ‘frostling’, a gosling nipped or injured by frost. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 460. ‘Froslin(g’ is a Suffolk word for anything—plant or animal—injured by the frost (EDD.).
frote, froat, to rub, chafe; to rub a garment with perfumes. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Perfumer); Middleton, A Trick to Catch, iv. 3 (1 Creditor). In prov. use in the north country and Shropshire (EDD.). ME. frote, to rub (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. iii. 1115, OF. froter (F. frotter).
frounce, to frizz or curl the hair; ‘An ouerstaring frounced hed’, Ascham, Scholemaster, bk. i (ed. Arber, p. 54); Milton, Il Penseroso, 123. F. froncer, to wrinkle the brow, to frown. See Dict. (s.v. Flounce, 2).
frow, frowe, fro, a Dutchwoman; a woman. London Prodigall, v. 1. 164; Bacchus’ froes, Beaumont and Fl., Wit at Several Weapons, v. 1 (Wittypate). Du. vrouw; cp. G. Frau. See Stanford.
frowy, musty, sour, stale; ‘They like not of the frowie fede’, Spenser, Shep. Kal., July, 111. In use in E. Anglia and America, see EDD. (s.v. Frowy), and NED. (s.v. Froughy). Probably a deriv. of OE. þrōh, rancid (Napier’s OE. Glosses, vii. 193 and 210).
froy, brave, handsome, gallant; ‘And then my froy Hans Buz, A Dutchman’, B. Jonson, Staple of News, i. 1 (Thomas). Du. fraai, ‘brave, handsome, gallant, neat’ (Sewel). Cp. F. frais, ‘fresh, young, lusty’ (Cotgr.).
frubber, a furbisher, burnisher, or polisher. Said to a maid-servant, Chapman, Widow’s Tears, v. 3 (Tharsalio).
frubbish, to polish by rubbing; ‘To frubbish, fricando polire’, Levins, Manip.; hence, frubisher, a polisher, Skelton, Magnyfycence, 1076. F. fourbir, ‘to furbish, polish’ (Cotgr.).
frump, to mock or snub. Fletcher, Maid in a Mill, iii. 2 (Franio); ‘Sorner, to jest, boord, frump, gull’, Cotgrave; ‘Hee frumpeth those his mistresse frownes on’, Man in the Moone (Nares); a scoffer, Gascoigne (ed. Hazlitt, i. 24); a taunt, a biting sarcasm, Harington, Epigrams (Nares); Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 3. ‘To frump’ is in prov. use in many parts of England, meaning to flout, jeer; to scold, speak sharply or rudely to, see EDD. (s.v. Frump, vb.2).