Definitions
Etymologies
- From Old High German fraz, from Old High German frezzan (German fressen), to eat. (Wiktionary)
- German, feed, result of eating, insect damage, from Middle High German vrâz, from Old High German frāz, from frezzan, to eat; see ed- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Yes, caterpillar shit is called frass, and yes, it's derived from fressen.”
“(or more specifically called frass) coming out of them.”
“Over here, we are celebrating what chewed leaves, in this particular case, chewed tomato leaves, turn into: frass, that is, insect shit.”
“As one of the elite group of people who know the meaning of 'frass', my husband just about died laughing at the scene in the movieSideways where our two heros drive into the all-smoke-no-fire vineyard 'Frass Canyon'.”
“But in those two classes, no one ever mentioned the word "frass".”
“I've been looking for opportunities all week to use "frass" in a sentence …”
“First of all, you should know that "frass" is the technical (and very nice, I think) word for "insect pooh.”
“While we're on the bedroom theme, consider: If your pillow is six years old (the average age of a pillow, according to Mr. Bryson) "one-tenth of its weight will be made up of sloughed skin, living and dead mites, and mite dung — or frass, as it is known to entomologists.”
“Simcox only knew they were there by the frass – black pellets of caterpillar poo – that falls from the thyme.”
“You could only wear what was given to you and that was nothing but nails and frass”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘frass’.
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Jargon
parametric, heteroscedasticity, coleopteran, oogenesis, oology, frass, semiochemical, numismatics, ctenophora, synthetase, synthase, enzyme and 12 more...
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Words for deinonychus
If you find a word that you want to share with me, this is a good place for it. I will try to look after it.
psychotronics, dolichocephalic, efficacious, scabrous, sympatidig, Ischnoceran, Amblyceran, Rhynchophthiran, Anopluran, Fahrenholz' Rule, Zlotorzycka's Rule, Eichler's Rule and 69 more...
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Chit Chat
Conversations that are shorter than those featured in my conversations list.
props, frass, narwhal, preggers, mu, hype, heterotopia, sans serif, cow orker, snicker-snack, modality road, boolean poetry and 77 more...
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Logodaedalus' Lexical Locutionary
Discombobulating the illiterate since the middle of the last century.
adiaphora, agitprop, alliteration, apophthegm, autarky, bête noire, bezoar, biorhythm, braggadocio, canaille, confabulate, confrère and 332 more...
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ktrey's wordlist
Words that I like.
Many may be lexicographically impotent due to a lack of citations and definition. Hopefully I'll be able to rectify this eventually.velleity, dispositive, bloviate, bibulous, fungible, concupiscence, avuncular, carnaptious, thrawn, hypocoristic, diegesis, lagniappe and 928 more...
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Words that were new to me
but now they're not because I looked them up. In cases of polysemy or homography, *of course* it was the oddest meaning that stumped me. ;)
Procrustean bed, idem sonans, hob, backcap, quango, cheap-jack, pantechnicon, churrigueresco, chopfallen, maritorious, supererogation, catimini and 212 more...
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It Has a Name??
Yes. Yes it does.
aglet, armsaye, scroop, rowel, ferrule, rasceta, chanking, philtrum, frenulum, keeper, agelast, punt and 285 more...
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Wordnik Notebooks
All the words from the cover of the Wordnik notebook.
A few words appear twice: frass, cruet, luna, thalweg, and possibly some more.
Careful: Contains spoilers!spilth, frass, fomite, rux, worricow, alizarin, mundungus, parthenocarpy, jib, whinyard, weisure, nimiety and 217 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
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favorite words
sawbones, grackle, celadon, brio, loam, trull, mint, saliva, serape, frisson, impasto, reek and 547 more...
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...:::bella:::...
originally started as an attempt to collect words I found visually and auditorially beautiful, as well as psychically evocative, this has become nothing more than a grab bag of word curiosities, a ...
bergamot, jambalaya, bee's knees, heliotrope, hosanna, gamboge, aureole, filial, madrigal, multilingual, sacrosanct, sojourn and 1072 more...
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rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3250 more...
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Speak, Memory
Words gathered while reading Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov.
cracknel, shingly, glaucous, stretcherman, goodish, loden, gutticle, percha, plasticine, instar, wellhole, camera-lucida and 357 more...
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mazirian's Words
flapdoodle, hypothecator, syllabication, kailyaird, prevarication, jackanapes, golliwog, jejune, exigible, eggcorn, moochism, plasmodium and 31 more...
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Specific Excrement
Words that describe poo *very specifically*.
guano, frass, spraints, fumets, mutessing, fiants, crottels, worm-cast, tath, bodewash, coprolite, bois de vache and 55 more...
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Eating Words
eat, fret, frass, etch, ort, edacious, edible, escarole, esculent, esurient, comedo, comestible and 49 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for frass.
reesetee But look on the bright side, jenn--fungi can be fun! Nov 3, 2008
jennarenn No frass this year. I've been demoted to mold. Nov 3, 2008
reesetee Then again, weevil-frass is rather fun to say.
Weevil-frass. Weevil-frass. Weevil-frass. Mar 14, 2008
sionnach How cool is that, when your specific excrement interest and your O' Brian interest intersect!!
But really, weevil-frass in the biscuit-jar?? EEWW! Mar 14, 2008
chained_bear I actually came across this word while reading: "Stephen took a piece of biscuit, tapping it mechanically, brushed away the weevil-frass, and said..."
(O'Brian, The Wine-Dark Sea, 90) Mar 14, 2008
chained_bear Oh, now come on. That's complete frass.
(note: not really) Oct 3, 2007
oroboros I first heard this word used when an exterminator was scouting out my carpenter ant infestation. I got the impression that it also includes sundry debris like bits of nesting material. Oct 3, 2007
reesetee Glad to hear it! Man, you have a good memory. I'd have forgotten all about it by now. Oct 3, 2007
jennarenn Alas, the insect unit is actually in October, but I *will* be using this word tomorrow. :) Oct 3, 2007
reesetee See? Precisely! *triumphant* Apr 28, 2007
jennarenn Ooo! I will use this when I teach my cricket unit in September. *That* is why it needs a name. Apr 28, 2007
reesetee Yes, but let's be fair--it does *sound* better than "insect poop." Feb 23, 2007
chained_bear EEW. Why does insect poop need a word?! Feb 23, 2007
reesetee insect poop Feb 23, 2007