▪ I. friar, n.
(ˈfraɪə(r))
Forms: 3–6, 9 arch. frere, 3–5 frer, 5–6 freer(e, 6 Sc. freir, (freyr), 6 freare, freaȝour, frir, 6–7 fryer, 6–8 frier, fryar, 9 Sc. dial. freer, freir, 5, 7– friar.
[ME. frere, a. OF. frere (mod.F. frère), earlier fredre:—Lat. frātrem, brother.
In Fr. and Pr. the words for brother and friar are the same; in the other Rom. langs. they are different. It. frate (as a prefixed title fra) is ad. L. frāter; Sp. fraile (as prefix fray), earlier fraire, is ad. Pr. fraire, regularly repr. L. frātrem: Pg. has frei from the Sp. fray.
For the change of frere into friar, cf. quire (= choir) from quere, briar from brere, entire from entere.]
† 1. = brother, in fig. applications; esp. in OFr. phrase beu frere ‘fair brother’. Obs.
| c 1290 Beket 1348 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 145 ‘Certes, beu frere’ quat þe pope: ‘I-nelle nouȝt take on so’. c 1290 St. Brendan 121 Ibid. 223 ‘Beau freres’ quaþ seint brendan: ‘ȝe neþore noþing drede’. c 1330 Amis & Amil. 17 How yong the[y] become frere, In courte whereas thei were. c 1530 Hickscorner E ij, What Frewyll myne owne frere Arte thou out of thy minde. 1821 J. Baillie Met. Leg., Lady G. B. xix, Her jealous Frere, oft on her gazing. |
2. a. In the
Roman Cath. Ch.: A brother or member of one of certain religious orders founded in the 13th c. and afterwards, of which the chief were the four mendicant orders: the Franciscans (
† Friars minors,
Minorites, or
Grey Friars); the Augustines (
Austin Friars); the Dominicans (
Friars Preachers,
Black Friars); and the Carmelites (
† Frirs carims = F.
frères carmes;
White Friars).
| c 1290 Beket 1170 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 140 Forth rod þis holi man As þei it were a frere and let him cleopie frere cristian. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10105 & þer..Þe ordre bigan of frere prechors. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. 110 He leneþ on is forke ase a grey frere. c 1325 Poem Times Edw. II, 163 in Pol. Songs (Camden) 331 Freres of the Carme, and of Seint Austin. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxi. 139 Twa frere meneours of Lombardy. c 1400 Rom. Rose 7462 Sakked Freres. c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 91 Geder up, lo, lo, Ye hungre begers frerys. c 1500 God speed the Plough 55 Then commeth the blak freres. a 1502 in Arnolde Chron. (1811) p. xxi, This yere..frirs carims began first..A°. Dni. M.ij.C.xx. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 140 Though the frere minor gyue great example of holynes. 1529 More Dyaloge iii. Wks. 223/2 Frere Hierom geuing vp his order of the frere obseruants came to hym. 1537 in Brand Hist. Newcastle (1789) I. 130 note, Prior of the Freaȝours Preachours of Newcastell. a 1596 in Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. i. 148 It was the Friar of Orders gray As he forth walked on his way. 1628 Coke On Litt. 132 The Order of Friers Minors and Preachers. 1647 Trapp Comm. 1 Tim. iv. 2 It was grown to a common Proverb, A Frier, a lier. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C., Spain 492 A great Convent of Dominican Freres. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 19 Johan. de Coloribus..by Profession a Black Frier, was a Reader of Divinity. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 7 Some Itinerant Fryars. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian vi, These friars had left the convent. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. xxix, Lordlings and freres—ill-sorted fry I ween! 1816 Scott Antiq. xxvii, ‘He might be a capechin freer for fat I kend.’ 1874 Green Short Hist. iii. §6. 145 To the towns especially the coming of the Friars was a religious revolution. |
b. Sometimes loosely applied to members of the monastic or of the military orders.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 197 Þe freres of þe hospital, & þe temple also. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais ii. vii. (1884) 139 The brimborions of the cælestine friars. 1801 A. Ranken Hist. France I. 225 In ordinary occurrences of difficulty he [the Abbot] may consult with the older friars. |
c. pl. The quarters or convent of a particular order; hence often used as a proper name for the part of a town where their convent formerly existed.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce ii. 33 He..with Schyr Ihone the Cumyn met, In the freris, at the hye Awter. 1479 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 426 They shall here sermonde at the ffrere menors. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. cxcvii. 173 The barons token counceyll bytwene hem at Frere prechours at pountfret. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. xiv. vii, He wes in þe freiris of Dunfreis. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vi. i. 270 A place..still retaining the name of Black Fryers. 1822 Scott Nigel xxv, You are about to leave the Friars? I will go with you. 1897 Oxf. Times 13 Feb. 5/8 Houses in the..Friars have been invaded by the flood-water. |
† 3. Some vessel, etc. made in the similitude of a friar.
Obs.| 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 41 To Kateryne Druy my best gay cuppe of erthe kevvryd, or ellys oon of the frerys, to chese of bothe. |
† 4. Some kind of fly (see
quot.)
Obs.| 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 48 The long flye called a Frier..which is counted poysonsome. |
5. A name given to various fishes.
| 1603 Owen Pembrokesh. (1891) 123 The frier [named in a list of fish]. 1889 Century Dict., Friar, a fish of the family Atherinidæ. An Irish name of the angler, Lophius piscatorius. 1892 Simmonds Dict. Trade Suppl., Friar, a name for the silversides, a North American fish, Chirostoma notatum. |
6. An Australian bird of the genus
Philemon. Now usually
friar-bird.
| 1798 D. Collins Acc. Eng. Col. N.S. Wales 615 Vocab., Wirg-an, Bird named by us the Friar. 1848 J. Gould Birds Austral. IV. Descr. pl. 58 Tropidorhynchus Corniculatus..Friar Bird. |
7. Print. (See
quots.)
| 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc. II. 377 Fryer, when the Balls do not Take, the Un-taking part of the Balls that touches the Form will be left White, or if the Press-men Skip over any part of the Form, and touch it not with the Balls, though they do Take, yet in both these cases the White place is cal'd a Fryer. 1824 J. Johnson Typogr. II. 524 That corner untouched by the ball [of printer's ink]..is technically termed a friar. 1871 Amer. Encycl. Print. (ed. Ringwalt), Friars, light patches caused by imperfect inking of the form. |
8. white friars: ‘a small flake of light-coloured sediment floating in wine’.
| a 1745 Swift Direct. Serv. i. Wks. 1824 XI. 396 If the cork be musty or white friars in your liquor. |
9. attrib. and
Comb. a. attributive (of or pertaining to the friars), as
friar-house,
friar-kirk,
friar-lands; appositive, as
friar-beggar (and see under sense 2).
| 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxxvii. 262 The iiij ordres of the *frere beggers. |
| 1525 Fitzherb. Husb. 58 b, Chyrches, abbeys, *frere houses. |
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 488 He..Syne bureit was..In the *freir kirk at the hie altar end. |
| 1681 in Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. IV. 379 They likewise renounce all chapels..monk-land, *frier-lands..and dice. |
b. Special comb.:
friar's balsam, tincture of benzoin compound used as an application for ulcers and wounds; also inhaled and used internally as an expectorant;
friar-bird: see sense 6;
friar's cap(s, the Monkshood,
Aconitum Napellus;
friar's chicken, ‘chicken-broth with eggs dropped in it’ (
Jam.);
friar's cowl, the Cuckoo-pint or Wake Robin,
Arum maculatum;
friar's crown,
Carduus eriophorus;
† friar-fly, an idler;
friar's goose,
Eryngium campestre;
friar's grey, grey worn by the Franciscans;
friar's-hood = friar's cowl;
friar('s knots, in goldsmith's work, knots made in imitation of the knotted cords of the Franciscans;
friar's lantern = ignis fatuus;
friar-skate, the
Raia alba;
friar's thistle = friar's crown.
| 1753 W. Lewis New Dispensatory 427/2 Balsamum commendatoris... This balsam has been inserted..in some foreign pharmacopœias..under the titles of..Balsam of Berne, Wade's balsam, *Friar's balsam, Jesuit's drops, &c. 1772 [see Mohock 2]. 1831 R. Cox Adv. Columbia River vi. 78 The wound was dressed with friar's balsam and lint. 1844 Hoblyn Dict. Med., Friars' balsam. 1959 W. Golding Free Fall i. 30 Then they realized of course that they had given him poison instead of friar's balsam... They had pulled and pulled but the spoon wouldn't come out [of his mouth]. 1963 Brit. Pharm. Codex 1261 Tincture of benzoin, compound...Friar's balsam. 1967 Listener 28 Sept. 419/2 For congested noses, Friar's Balsam... You inhale this—remember that nostalgic paraphernalia of cloths and steam? |
| 1830 Withering's Brit. Plants (ed. 7) (Brit. & H.), *Friars caps. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. I. 46 Monk's-hood, Aconitum Napellus..Had the old names of Helmet-flower and Friar's-cap. |
| 1782 Sir J. Sinclair Observ. Sc. Dial. 150 Fried chickens, (properly) *Friars chickens. A dish invented by that luxurious body of men. 1815 [see crappit-head]. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxci. 686 Of *Friers Coule, or hooded Cuckowpint. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 90 Wake Robin or Cuckow Pintle..is of some called Friers Coule, because of the hooding of the Pestle, when it is springing forth. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cccclxii. 990 The downe Thistle..is thought of diuers to be that..report[ed] to be called Corona fratrum or *Friers Crowne. |
| 1577 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1579) 11 b, Idlers & wanderers were wont to be called *friers flees [the Lat. above is fratres muscas] that do no good. |
| 1861 Mrs. Lankester Wild Flowers 62 Another British species, Eryngium Campestre, called by John Ray *Friar's Goose. |
| 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. xiii. §6 As one family is not abridged of liberty to be clothed in *friar's-grey for that another doth wear clay-colour, so neither are all churches bound to the self-same indifferent ceremonies which it liketh sundry to use. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxci. 686 *Friers hood is of two sorts, the one broad leafed, the other narrow leafed. |
| 1488 in Ld. Treas. Acc. Scotl. (1877) I. 83 A chenȝe of gold maid in fassone of *frere knottis. 1529 M. Parr in Wills Doct. Comm. (Camden) 18, xviij. diamontes sett with fryers knottes. |
| 1632 Milton L'Allegro 104 And he, by *Friar's Lantern led, Tells how [etc.]. |
| 1810 Neill List Fishes 28 (Jam.) Sharp-nosed Ray..*Friar-skate. |
▪ II. † friar, v. Obs. [f. prec. n.] 1. intr. To act as a friar, play the friar.
| a 1535 More How Serjeant would be Frere 156 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 125 His heart for pride lept in his side, to see howe well he freered. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1892) II. 571 A rich Boor's Son, whom his Father had sent abroad a Fryaring, that is, shroving in our Language. |
2. trans. To make (a person) a friar.
| 1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 232 There remaines nothing for a Iew converted, but to bee Friered. |