fress

/fɹɛs/

Etymology

From German fressen (“to eat, devour, gobble”) and/or Yiddish פֿרעסן (fresn), both from Middle High German vrezzen, from Old High German frezzan (“to eat up”), from Proto-West Germanic *fraetan, from Proto-Germanic *fraetaną (“to eat up”), from *fra- (intensive and perfective prefix) + *etaną (“to eat”), equivalent to for- + eat. Cognate with Old English fretan (“to devour”). Doublet of fret.

fress means to eat without restraint; eat heartily Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.

Why this word is great

FRESS — [Verb] To eat with unbridled voracity, a primal act of consumption conveying animal satisfaction rather than polite nourishment. From German fressen ("to eat, devour, gobble") and/or Yiddish פֿרעסן (fresn), both from Middle High German vrezzen, from Old High German frezzan ("to eat up"), from Proto-West Germanic *fraetan, from Proto-Germanic *fraetaną ("to eat up"), from *fra- (intensive/perfective prefix) + *etaną ("to eat"). Unlike "dine" (which implies linen and ceremony) or "nibble" (which suggests finicky delicacy), to fress is to engage in gustatory abandon. It is the hot, greasy scent of frying onions that demands a torn loaf be plunged into the pan; the solitary, standing-at-the-fridge consumption of cold leftovers directly from the container; the sound of satisfied, almost bestial, chewing in a quiet kitchen late at night—a rare and honest communion with the physical fact of being fed.

verb

to eat without restraint; eat heartily