fresh

Etymology 1

From Middle English fressh, from Old English fersċ (“fresh, pure, sweet”), from Proto-West Germanic *frisk (“fresh”), from Proto-Germanic *friskaz (“fresh”), from Proto-Indo-European *preysk- (“fresh”). Cognate with Scots fresch (“fresh”), West Frisian farsk (“fresh”), Dutch vers (“fresh”), Walloon frexh (“fresh”), German frisch (“fresh”), French frais (“fresh”), Norwegian and Danish frisk (“fresh”), fersk, Icelandic ferskur (“fresh”), Lithuanian prėskas (“unflavoured, tasteless, fresh”), Russian пре́сный (présnyj, “sweet, fresh, unleavened, tasteless”). Doublet of fresco. Sense "disobedient" perhaps influenced by German frech (“impudent”). Slang sense possibly shortened form of “fresh out the pack”, 1980s routine by Grand Wizzard Theodore.

adj

1. Newly produced or obtained; recent.
   He followed the fresh hoofprints to find the deer.
   I seem to make fresh mistakes every time I start writing.
   With his recent divorce still fresh in his mind, he was unable to concentrate on his work.
2. (of food) Not dried, frozen, or spoiled.
   After taking a beating in the boxing ring, the left side of his face looked like fresh meat.
   I brought home from the market a nice bunch of fresh spinach leaves straight from the farm.
   a glass of fresh milk
3. (of plant material) Still green and not dried.
4. Invigoratingly cool and refreshing.
   What a nice fresh breeze.
5. (of water) Without salt; not saline.
   After a day at sea it was good to feel the fresh water of the stream.
   There we made our ſhip faſt with foure ropes, in ſmooth water, and the freſh water ranne downe out of the hill into the ſea, […] a. 1628, Sir Francis Drake(?), The World Encompassed, Nicholas Bourne (publisher, 1628), page 49
   When dissolved, it produces water sometimes perfectly fresh, and sometimes saltish; […] 1820, William Scoresby, An Account of the Arctic Regions, Archibald Constable & Co., page 230
   Additional changes that occur when water enters the lungs depend on whether the water is fresh or salt. 2009, Adele Pillitteri, Maternal and Child Health Nursing, Sixth Edition, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, page 1557
6. Rested; not tired or fatigued.
   Before the match, Hodgson had expressed the hope that his players would be fresh rather than rusty after an 18-day break from league commitments because of two successive postponements. December 29, 2010, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC
7. In a raw or untried state; uncultured; unpracticed.
   a fresh hand on a ship
8. Youthful; florid.
9. Disobedient or rude, as of a child.
   If you keep acting fresh you're going to get a timeout.
10. (slang) Good, fashionable.
    a fresh pair of sneakers
    I've been thinking about the way you walk Baby ooh I like the way you talk Tell you something I really can't hide Heaven must have sent you to be by my side Fresh and lovely fresh like a dream come true I'll give anything to spend the night with you 1984, “Fresh”, in Emergency, performed by Kool & the Gang
    Because my devastating beats I know you will like / You see my beat box is fresh, it'll blow your mind 1988, “Supersonic”, performed by J. J. Fad
11. (archaic, slang) Tipsy; drunk.
    How long did Mr. Crisp stay with you?—He might have stayed two hours; he stayed some time after; he drank ale and got fresh. 1840, Parliamentary Papers, volume 9, page 43

adv

1. recently; just recently; most recently
   We are fresh out of milk.
   Hell of a surprise in the seventh season premiere of Game Of Thrones. Arya Stark, fresh off a nigh Cersei-level ambush of the Frey household, comes upon a small campfire surrounded by fresh-faced red cloaks. July 16, 2017, Brandon Nowalk, “Chickens and dragons come home to roost on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club

noun

1. A rush of water, along a river or onto the land; a flood.
   They went on very well with their work until it was nigh done, when there came the second epistle to Noah's fresh, and away went their mill, shot, lock, and barrel. 1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, Nebraska, published 1987, page 21
2. A stream or spring of fresh water.
3. The mingling of fresh water with salt in rivers or bays, as by means of a flood of fresh water flowing toward or into the sea.
   When they cross any great Water, or violent Fresh, or Torrent, they throw Tobacco, Puccoon, Peak, or some other valuable thing, that they happen to have about there, to intreat the Spirit presiding there, to grant them a safe passage. It is call'd a Fresh, when after very great Rains, or (as we suppose) after a great Thaw of the Snow and Ice lying upon the Mountains Page 43 to the North West, the Water descends, in such abundance into the Rivers, that they overflow the Banks which bound their Streams at other times. 1705, Robert Beverley, Jr., History and Present State of Virginia

verb

1. (commercial fishing) To pack (fish) loosely on ice.
   With the exception of about 1800 crans which were "rough packed," all the herrings landed during the winter months were freshed and kippered. 1921, Commonwealth Shipping Committee, Report - Volume 12
   Aided by government propaganda, herring became an important British war-time food, not pickled, but 'freshed' (packed loosely in ice) and kippered. 1960, Nigel Nicolson, Lord of the Isles: Lord Leverhulme of the Hebrides, page 84
   Smoked abalone is prepared by smoking the salted and freshed abalone, the smoked meat is packed with vegetable oil. 1971, Eiichi Tanikawa, Marine Products in Japan: Size, Technology and Research, page 189
2. To flood or dilute an area of salt water with flowing fresh water.
   Our first assumption was that freshed sea water areas were favourable for these organisms. 1974, Bilješke - Volumes 31-76, page 1
   Under the present river conditions, headwater discharge of 40,000 cusecs will be necessary during the non-freshed season to neutralise the landward drift of sediments throughout the tidal portion of the river. 1977, India. Parliament. House of the People, India. Parliament. Lok Sabha, Lok Sabha Debates, page 226
   But as the golden light flowed slowly across the Discworld like the first freshing of the tide over mudflats the eagle circled higher into the dome of heaven, beating the air down with slow and powerful wingbeats. 1987, Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites, page 69
   The salinity is variated, and locally the lake water is freshed in a step manner. 1989, Tseng-chʻüan Li, Fa-erh Chiang, Shu Sun, Developments in geoscience, page 325
3. (of wind) To become stronger.
   Horrible was now my condition, as the wind freshed up more and more. 1815, William Williams, The Journal of Llewellin Penrose, a Seaman
   I should have observed, that as we rounded the north-east point, the breeze freshed, and the squalls came heavy out of the gullies and deep ravines. 1834, Frederick Marryat, The naval officer, page 259
   On the afternoon of the 20th, at the period the storm was very severe to the south-west of her, the Barlow experienced calms and variable winds. By noon on the 21st, the wind freshed, with the weather cloudy. 1850, William Reid, An Attempt to Develop the Law of Storms by Means of Facts
4. To rebore the barrel of a rifle or shotgun.
   When the barrel became very rough the gun was taken to the local gunsmith and "freshed." 1910, Hunter-trader-trapper - Volume 19, Issue 6, page 92
   There is also the oft-heard plaint that "modern steel barrels can't be re-rifled or freshed out." 1974, George C. Nonte, Home guide to muzzle-loaders, page 132
5. To update.
   Thus the liberties of the nation, civil and religious, were laid freshed by his preaching, and. more and more confirmed in the presbyterian principles: and we likewise resorted for a time at West Calder kirk, to Mr. Patrick Shiels, by whose preaching I was yet more confirmed in the presbyterian way. 1822, Alexander Reid, Life of ―, a scotish govenanter, page 7
   We need not assume that the famous village was considered the capital of the country spoken of; it is sufficient to know that the priests who freshed up the old Ta-ts'in lore in China, were proud of having been themselves born in the Holy Land; and if we consider the precedent set in the very T'ang-shu, where the whole of India is designated by the name of Buddha's birth place, Magadha, we need not be astonished to see the name of what they must have considered the spiritual capital of the Christian world applied to the country they came from. 1885, Chinese Recorder - Volume 16, page 419
   The strongest judgment against the Toledot Yeshu was made by Solomon Schechter in 1898, "All the so-called Anti-Christiana collected by medieval [Jewish] fanatics, and freshed up again by modern ignoramuses, belong to the later centuries, when history and biography had already given way to myth and speculation." 2000, Robert Van Voorst, Craig A. Evans, Bruce Chilton, Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence, page 122
6. To freshen up.
   I freshed meself and followed after him and made choice of me dinner. 1943, Maggie Jeanne Melody Wadelton, Maggie No Doubt, page 132
   There was no need for them all to be there—most would be resting in their rooms, freshing from the journey—but she was on edge now, all the questions she could not ask running through her head. 2009, Robert Jordan, The Great Hunt
   We played and adored our boys, we watched a little television until about six, I got a shower and put my clothes back on I got the boys freshed up while Aj was in the shower and he got dressed. 2012, Mz. K., First Lady: A Hood Tale, page 116
7. To renew.
   Q. Did you tell anybody this tale that you heard this man threaten what they were going to do?—A. No, sir; I didn't say nothing to anybody until Monday—Monday or Tuesday, one—then my mind was freshed. 1884, United States Congressional Serial Set - Volume 2178, page 503
   In the nook of a wood where a pool freshed with dew Glassed, daybreak till evening, blue sky glimpsing through Then a star; or a slip of May-moon silver-white, Thridding softly aloof the quiet of night, Was a thicket of flowers. 1902, Walter De la Mare, Dorothy Pulis Lathrop, Down-adown-derry: A Book of Fairy Poems
   About a month later, the blaze is freshed by cutting off a thin shaving of bark all round the stem, over half the depth of the old blaze and taking in 2 inches of new bark on the upper edge of the original wound. 1918, The Indian Forest Records - Volume 6, Parts 1-6, page 316
8. (of a dairy cow) to give birth to a calf.
   A cow was actually tested twice a month on the 5th and 25th of each month. The cow freshed December 15, her milk was good December 18, and she went dry October 30. 1940, James Frank Kendrick, The cow tester's manual, page 23
   Fall Freshed Cows Produce More Milk. 1946, Co-op News – Volumes 20-21, page 3
   On the day of my visit, Mary greets me at my car with a delighted look on her face. “You're just in time!” she says eagerly. “A cow has just 'freshed'!” 2009, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World, page 56

Etymology 2

1848, US slang, probably from German frech (“impudent, cheeky, insolent”), from Middle High German vrech (“bold, brave, lively”), from Old High German freh (“greedy, eager, avaricious, covetous”), from Proto-West Germanic *frek, from Proto-Germanic *frekaz (“greedy, outrageous, courageous, capable, active”), from Proto-Indo-European *preg- (“to be quick, twitch, sprinkle, splash”). Cognate with Old English frec (“greedy; eager, bold, daring; dangerous”) and Danish fræk (“naughty”). More at freak.

adj

1. Rude, cheeky, or inappropriate; presumptuous; disrespectful; forward.
   No one liked his fresh comments.
2. Sexually aggressive or forward; prone to caress too eagerly; overly flirtatious.
   Hey, don't get fresh with me!