freitn.
/friːt/, U.S. /frit/, Scottish English /frit/ Scottish.
Anything to which superstition attaches; an omen; a superstitious formula or charm; a superstitious observance or act of worship.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > superstition > [noun] > instance
freita1300
superstitiona1450
bauble1548
a1300 Cursor Mundi 28310 I..folud wiche-crafte and frete, and charmyng.
c1425 Wyntoun Cron. vi. xviii. 362 Makbeth aye In fantown Fretis had gret Fay.
1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1822) i. 42 The Albanis hallowit thair fretis, and terribill conjuraciouns.
1597 King James VI & I Daemonologie i. iv. 11 All kinde of practicques, freites, or other like extraordinarie actiones.
?17.. Adam o Gordon xxvii, in J. Pinkerton Select Sc. Ballads (1783) I. 49 Wha luik to freits, my master deir, Freits will ay follow them.
1768 A. Ross Marri'd & Woo'd in Fortunate Shepherdess 142 Fouk need no on fraits to be standing, That's marry'd and woo'd an' a'.
1868 G. MacDonald Robert Falconer III. 70 ‘I dream aboot him whiles sae lifelike, that I canna believe him deid. But that's a' freits.’
Derivatives
ˈfreity adj. superstitious.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > superstition > [adjective]
superstitiousc1405
superstitional1683
freightful1716
freity1788
1788 J. Macaulay Poems Var. Subj. 122 I..saw a blade fast sticking to my hose, An', being freety, stack it up my nose.
1818 Edinb. Mag. & Literary Misc. Sept. 154 Deeply imbued with the superstitious and freitty observances of his native land.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1300