• IPA: /fɹɛʃ/

From Middle English fressh, from Old English fersċ, from Proto-West Germanic *frisk, from Proto-Germanic *friskaz, from Proto-Indo-European *preysk-.

Cognate with Scots fresch, Western Frisian farsk, Dutch vers, Walloon frexh, German frisch, French frais, Norwegian - and Danish frisk, fersk, Icelandic ferskur, Lithuanian prėskas, Russian пре́сный. Doublet of fresco and frisk.

Slang sense possibly shortened form of “fresh out the pack”, 1980s routine by Grand Wizzard Theodore.

fresh (comparative fresher, superlative freshest)

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.

   Antonyms: stale

   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.
   • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:

     With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get […]

4. Invigoratingly cool and refreshing.

   Synonyms: cool

   What a nice fresh breeze.

5. (of water) Without salt; not saline.

   Antonyms: saline

   After a day at sea it was good to feel the fresh water of the stream.

   • a. 1628, Sir Francis Drake(?), The World Encompassed, Nicholas Bourne (publisher, 1628), page 49 ↗:

     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, […]

6. Rested; not tired or fatigued.

   Synonyms: rested

   Antonyms: tired

7. In a raw or untried state; uncultured; unpracticed.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:inexperienced

   a fresh hand on a ship

8. Youthful; florid.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene i]:

     these fresh nymphs

9. (slang) Good, fashionable.

   Synonyms: cool, fashionable

   a fresh pair of sneakers

10. (archaic, slang) Tipsy; drunk.
    • 1840, Parliamentary Papers, volume 9, page 43:

      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.

• French: nouveau
• German: frisch
• Italian: nuovo, recente (of news)
• Portuguese: fresco
• Russian: све́жий
• Spanish: nuevo

• French: frais
• German: frisch
• Italian: fresco
• Portuguese: fresco
• Russian: све́жий
• Spanish: fresco

• French: frais, rafraichissant
• German: frisch
• Italian: fresco, refrigerante
• Portuguese: refrescante
• Russian: све́жий
• Spanish: fresco, refrescante

• French: doux
• Italian: dolce
• Portuguese: doce
• Russian: пре́сный
• Spanish: simple, dulce (of water)

fresh (not comparable)

1. recently; just recently; most recently

   We are fresh out of milk.

fresh (plural freshes)

1. A rush of water, along a river or onto the land; a flood.
2. A stream or spring of fresh water.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:

     […] And take his bottle from him. / When that's gone, / He shall drink naught but brine, for I'll not show him / Where the quick freshes are.

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.

fresh (freshes, present participle freshing; simple past and past participle freshed)

1. (commercial fishing) To pack (fish) loosely on ice.
2. To flood or dilute an area of salt water with flowing fresh water.
3. (of wind) To become stronger.
4. To rebore the barrel of a rifle or shotgun.
5. To update.
6. To freshen up.
7. To renew.
8. (of a dairy cow) to give birth to a calf.

Cognate with Old English frec and Danish fræk. More at freak.

fresh (comparative fresher, superlative freshest)

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!

   • 1906 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Brief Début Of Tildy”, in The Four Million, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co, →OCLC ↗, page 256 ↗:

     “Fresh guy,” explained Aileen, “last night as I was going home at Twenty-third and Sixth. Sashayed up, so he did, and made a break. I turned him down, cold, and he made a sneak; […]

   • 1920 April 10 – August 28, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, chapter 11, in The Little Warrior [Jill the Reckless], New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 8 October 1920, →OCLC ↗, section 1, page 194 ↗:

     … He got on Forty-second Street, and he was kinda fresh from the start. At Sixty-sixth he came sasshaying^[sic] right down the car and said ‘Hello, patootie!’ Well, I drew myself up …

• See also Thesaurus:cheeky

• French: (informal) frais
• German: frech
• Italian: sfacciato, sfiacciata
• Portuguese: grosseiro, rude, mal-educado
• Russian: гру́бый
• Spanish: grosero, fresco, descarado, maleducado, faltón (colloquial)

Possibly an Americanized form of German Frisch.

1. Surname.