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
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word frith.
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.
-
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. (
-
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.
-
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.
stpeter commented on the word frith
From the same root as friend and free.
January 5, 2007