Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Brittle; tender; crisp.
  • noun A cleaving-tool having a wedge-shaped blade, with a handle set at right angles to the length of the blade, used in splitting staves for casks and the like. It is driven by a mallet. Also froe and frower.
  • noun A woman; a wife, especially a Dutch or German one.
  • noun [Cf. frowzy, 1.] A slovenly woman; a wench; a lusty woman.
  • noun Among London bakers, potato-flour used to assist fermentation in dough and improve the appearance of bread.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A woman; especially, a Dutch or German woman.
  • noun Prov. Eng. A dirty woman; a slattern.
  • noun A cleaving tool with handle at right angles to the blade, for splitting cask staves and shingles from the block; a frower.
  • adjective obsolete Brittle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A woman; a wife, especially a Dutch or German one.
  • noun A slovenly woman; a wench; a lusty woman.
  • noun A big, fat woman; a slovenly, coarse, or untidy woman; a woman of low character.
  • adjective obsolete brittle
  • noun Alternative spelling of froe.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle Dutch vrouwe ("lady"), from Old Dutch *frōwa, from Proto-Germanic *frōwōn (“woman”), from Proto-Indo-European *prōw- (“right; judge, master”). Cognate with Dutch vrouw ("woman, wife, lady, mistress"), Low German frouw, frauw ("woman, wife, lady"), German Frau ("woman, wife, lady"), Icelandic freyja ("lady, mistress", in compounds), Old English frōwe ("woman"), Old English frēa ("lord, master, husband").

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Examples

Comments

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  • The scowly lowbrow glare that dour old maids of ye olde yester~year lore laid heavily upon errant earners of such scalding scorn From English furrow + brow.

    July 15, 2008

  • That's a nice one! And it could actually come in useful. I love your definition.

    July 15, 2008