froughy, frowy, a. Now dial.
(ˈfrəʊɪ)
[? f. frough a. + -y1.]
1. Musty, sour, stale, not sweet.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. July 111 They..like not of the frowie fede. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Frowy, stale, on the point of turning sour from being over kept. 1866 Mrs. Stowe Lit. Foxes 117 Mrs. D. is a decent housekeeper, and so her bread be not sour, her butter not frowy [etc.]. |
2. Of wood: Spongy, soft-textured, brittle. frowy-stuff (see quot. 1858).
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 32 The best stricles are those that are made of froughy, unseasoned oake. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 67 If your Wood be soft, and your Stuff free, and frowy, that is, evenly temper'd all the way. 1750 W. Ellis Mod. Husb. VII. ii. 43 (E.D.S.) Such an ash..grows frowy, short and spungy. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Frowy-stuff, a builder's name for short, or brittle and soft, timber. 1889 Farmer Americanisms, Froughy, spongy, brittle, or, in fact, applied to anything that is of inferior quality. |