fries

noun

1. plural of fry¹.
2. Informal. fried potatoes.

verb

3. 3rd person singular present indicative of fry¹.

noun

1. Charles Carpenter,1887–1967, U.S. linguist.

verb (used with object), fried, fry·ing.

1. to cook in a pan or on a griddle over direct heat, usually in fat or oil.
2. Slang. to execute by electrocution in an electric chair.

verb (used without object), fried, fry·ing.

3. to undergo cooking in fat or oil.
4. Slang. to die by electrocution in an electric chair.

noun, plural fries.

5. a dish of something fried.
6. a piece of french-fried potato.
7. a party or gathering at which the chief food is fried, frequently outdoors: a fish fry.

noun, plural fry.

1. the young of fish.
2. the young of various other animals, as frogs.
3. people; individuals, especially children: games that are fun for the small fry.

pl n

1. another name for French fried potatoes

noun

1. Christopher . 1907–2005, English dramatist; author of the verse dramas A Phoenix Too Frequent (1946), The Lady’s Not For Burning (1948), and Venus Observed (1950)
2. Elizabeth . 1780–1845, English prison reformer and Quaker
3. Roger Eliot . 1866–1934, English art critic and painter who helped to introduce the postimpressionists to Britain. His books include Vision and Design (1920) and Cézanne (1927)
4. Stephen (John). born 1957, British writer, actor, and comedian; his novels include The Liar (1991) and The Stars’ Tennis Balls (2000)

verb fries, frying or fried

1. (when tr, sometimes foll by up) to cook or be cooked in fat, oil, etc, usually over direct heat
2. (intr) informal to be excessively hot
3. slang, mainly US to kill or be killed by electrocution, esp in the electric chair

noun plural fries

4. a dish of something fried, esp the offal of a specified animalpig’s fry
5. US and Canadian a social occasion, often outdoors, at which the chief food is fried
6. British informal the act of preparing a mixed fried dish or the dish itself

pl n

1. the young of various species of fish
2. the young of certain other animals, such as frogs
3. young childrenSee also small fry

v.

late 13c., from Old French frire “to fry” (13c.), from Latin frigere “to roast or fry,” from PIE *bher- (4) “to cook, bake” (cf. Sanskrit bhrjjati “roasts,” bharjanah “roasting;” Persian birishtan “to roast;” Greek phrygein “to roast, bake”).

Meaning “execute in the electric chair” is U.S. slang from 1929. To go out of the frying pan into the fire is first attested in Thomas More (1532). The related noun is from 1630s. Related: Fried; frying. Frying pan recorded from mid-14c.

n.

“young fish,” late 13c., from Anglo-French frei, from Old French frai “spawn,” from froier “to rub, spawn (by rubbing abdomen on sand).” First applied to human offspring 14c. in Scottish, though OED and some other sources trace this usage to Old Norse frjo, fræ “seed, offspring.”