fraught

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English

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WOTD – 24 February 2024

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English fraught, fraght, freght (“transport of goods or people (usually by water); charge for such transport; facilities for such transport; cargo or passengers of a ship; ballast of a ship; goods in general; (figurative) burden; charge”),[1] from Middle Dutch vracht, vrecht, or Middle Low German vracht, vrecht (“cargo, freight; charge for transport of goods”), from Proto-Germanic *fra-aihtiz, from *fra- (intensifying prefix) + Proto-Germanic *aihtiz (“acquisition; possessions, property”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ- (“to come into possession of, obtain; to own, possess”)).[2] Doublet of freight.

cognates

Noun

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fraught (usually uncountable, plural fraughts) (obsolete, also figurative)

  1. (nautical)
    1. The hire of a boat or ship to transport cargo.
    2. Money paid to hire a vessel for this purpose; freight.
      Hyponyms: boatage, (dated) shippage
      fraught money
    3. The transportation of goods, especially in a boat or ship.
      Hyponyms: boatage, (dated) shippage
    4. A ship's cargo; freight, lading.
  2. (obsolete except Scotland)
    1. Two bucketfuls.
      • 1891, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, “The Night-watchers”, in The Little Minister. […], volume I, London, Paris: Cassell and Company, […], →OCLC, pages 32–33:
        The manse […] is reached […] by a wide, straight path, so rough that to carry a fraught of water to the manse without spilling was to be superlatively good at one thing.
    2. (figurative) A burden, a load.
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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The verb is derived from Middle English fraughten, fraghten, freghten (“to hire (a ship, etc.) for transporting goods; to load (a ship, etc.) with cargo or passengers; to store, stow away; (figurative) to provide an ample supply of (goods, income, etc.)”),[3] from Middle Dutch vrachten, vrechten, from vracht, vrecht (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming infinitives of verbs).[4]

The adjective is derived from Middle English fraught, fraght (“burdened, loaded”), the past participle of fraughten, fraghten (verb) (see above).[3][5]

Verb

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fraught (third-person singular simple present fraughts, present participle fraughting, simple past and past participle fraught or fraughted)

  1. (transitive)
    1. (nautical, obsolete) To load (a boat, ship, or other vessel) with cargo.
      • c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act I, signature B2, recto:
        The ſhips are ſafe thou ſaiſt, and richly fraught?
      • 1603, Francis Dillingham, “The 15. Reason: Diuinitie”, in A Quartron of Reasons, Composed by Doctor Hill, Unquartered, and Prooued a Quartron of Follies, [Cambridge, Cambridgeshire]: […] Iohn Legat, printer to the Uniuersitie of Cambridge [a]nd are to be sold  […] by Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 68:
        […] I denie that the Proteſtant doth not meddle vvith theſe things, but fraughteth his ſhippe onely vvith faith, and neuer beateth his braine about ſinnes.
        A figurative use.
      • 1625, Peter Heylyn, “Of Peruana”, in Μικρόκοσμος [Mikrókosmos]. A Little Description of the Great World. […], revised edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Iohn Lichfield and William Turner, and are to be sold by W. Turner and T. Huggins, →OCLC, page 801:
        Tvvo Marchants departing from Spaine to get gold, touched vpon part of Barbary; vvhere […] the other fraughteth his veſſel vvith ſheep: […]
    2. (figurative, archaic or obsolete) To burden or load (someone or something).
    3. (figurative, archaic or obsolete) Followed by with: to furnish or provide (something).
      Synonyms: equip, supply
      • 1571, John Calvin, “[Commentary on Psalm 73:25]”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The Psalmes of Dauid and Others. With M. Iohn Caluin’s Commentaries, London: […] Thomas East and Henry Middelton; for Lucas Harison, and G[e]orge Byshop, →OCLC, 1st part, folio 279, verso, column 1:
        Therefore in ſayinge that he ſeeketh to none in heauẽ ſaue only god, he reiecteth all the counterfet Gods with which the comon errour & foly of yͤ world fraughteth heauen.
      • 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Henrie, the First of that Name, the Fortieth One Monarch of the English-men: […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 59, page 442, column 2:
        [H]ee [Henry I of England] tooke chiefe pleaſure to reſide in his nevv Palace, vvhich himſelfe built at Oxford, both for the delight he had in learned men, himſelfe being very learned, and for the vicinity of his nevv Parke at VVoodſtocke, vvhich hee had fraught vvith all kind of ſtrange beaſts, vvherein hee much delighted, as Lyons, Leopards, Lynces, Camels, Porcupines, and the like.
      • 1645, Jos[eph] Hall, “Sect[ion] XII. Consideration of the Benefits of Poverty.”, in The Remedy of Discontentment: Or, A Treatise of Contentation in whatsoever Condition: […], London: […] J. G. for Nath[aniel] Brooks, […], published 1652, →OCLC, pages 60–61:
        [W]hen his better earnings have fraught his trencher vvith a vvarm and pleaſing morſell, and his cup vvith a ſtronger liquor, hovv chearfully is he affected vvith that happy variety; and in the ſtrength of it digeſts many of his thinner meales?
      • a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Cornwall”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC, page 202:
        […] King Henry [VIII] full fraught all thoſe vvith vvealth and revvards, vvhom he retained in his imployment.
    4. (Scotland, nautical, obsolete) To hire (a vessel) to transport cargo or passengers.
    5. (Scotland, nautical, obsolete) To transport (cargo or passengers) in a vessel; to freight.
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) To form the cargo or passengers of a vessel.
    • 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 I, scene ii], page 2, column 1:
      Had I byn any God of povver, I vvould / Have ſuncke the Sea vvithin the Earth, or ere / It ſhould the good Ship ſo haue ſvvallovv'd, and / The fraughting Soules within her.
      An adjective use.
Conjugation
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Conjugation of fraught
infinitive (to) fraught
present tense past tense
1st-person singular fraught fraughted
2nd-person singular fraught, fraughtest† fraughted, fraughtedst†
3rd-person singular fraughts, fraughteth† fraughted
plural fraught
subjunctive fraught fraughted
imperative fraught —
participles fraughting fraughted

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
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Translations
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Adjective

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fraught (comparative more fraught or (rare) fraughter, superlative most fraught or (rare) fraughtest)

  1. (nautical) Of a boat, ship, or other vessel: laden with cargo.
    Synonym: freighted
    Antonyms: unfraught, unfreighted
  2. (figurative)
    Antonym: unfraught
    1. Followed by with: carrying, or charged or loaded up with (usually something negative); accompanied by; entailing.
      • 1566, Euripides, “Iocasta: A Tragedie Written in Greke by Euripides, […]”, in George Gascoigne, Francis Kinwelmershe, transl., A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres Bounde up in One Small Poesie. […], London: […] [Henry Bynneman and Henry Middleton for] Richarde Smith, published 1573, →OCLC, Act V, scene ii, page 148:
        [O]ne the other fiercely did encounter, / Like Lions two yfraught with boyling wrath, […]
      • 1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet LXXVI”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, signature [E7], recto:
        Fayre boſome fraught vvith vertues richeſt treſure, / The neaſt of loue, the lodging of delight: / the bovvre of bliſſe, the paradice of pleaſure, / the ſacred harbour of that heuenly ſpright.
      • 1660 August 8 (Gregorian calendar); first published 1715, Robert South, “A Discourse Preached at St. Mary’s Church in Oxon, before the University, on the 29th of July 1660, being the Time of the King’s Commissioners Meeting there, soon after the Restauration, for the Visitation of that University”, in Twelve Sermons Preached at Several Times, and upon Several Occasions, volume IV, London: […] G. James, for Jonah Bowyer […], →OCLC, page 3:
        In this Chapter vve have a large Diſcourſe from the great Preacher of Righteouſneſs; A Diſcourſe fraught vvith all the commending Excellencies of Speech; […]
      • 1755, [Edward Young], “Letter V. The Conclusion.”, in The Centaur Not Fabulous. […], London: […] A[ndrew] Millar […]; [a]nd R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 367:
        Liberty, fraught vvith bleſſings as it is, vvhen unabuſed, has, perhaps been abuſed to our deſtruction.
      • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 66:
        That which promised happiness when we were one in heart, is fraught with misery now that we are two.
      • 1844 February 19 (date delivered), [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “[Speeches.] A Speech Delivered in the House of Commons on the 19th of February 1844.”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC, page 658:
        The government and the legislature, each in its own sphere, is deeply responsible for the continuance of a state of things which is fraught with danger to the State.
      • 1860, Isaac Taylor, “Essay V. Epidemic Whims.”, in Ultimate Civilization and Other Essays, London: Bell and Daldy […], →OCLC, section I, page 257:
        He is a man of the meditative claſs:—he walks the ſtreets abſtractedly:—as he goes he digeſts enterpriſes, fraught with world-wide benefits.
      • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, “The Earliest Records of Black Magic”, in The Black Art, London: Senate, Studio Editions, published 1994, →ISBN, part I, page 22:
        The simplest action was fraught with danger, and could only be accomplished with the aid of talismans and counter-spells, and people lived in constant dread of the unknown.
    2. (specifically) Carrying or loaded with anxiety, fear, or stress, for example, due to complexity or difficulty; distressed; also, causing distress; distressing.
      a fraught relationship    a fraught process
      • 1878, Benj[amin] G. Herre, “Wyman’s Ordeal. A Partisan Tale.”, in Eratics: Or, Love Stories, Lancaster, Pa.: Jno. [Jon.?] H. Pearsol, […], →OCLC, scene iii, stanza XXI, page 180:
        Nor less her son the like encouraged she / To party bitterness, that was in her, / Ev'n of the fraughtest growth that well could be, / Surpassing most of men's, […]
      • 2010, Philip Withington, “The Rise and Fall of ‘Commonwealth’”, in Society in Early Modern England: The Vernacular Origins of Some Powerful Ideas, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; Malden, Mass.: Polity Press, →ISBN, part II (Keywords), page 166:
        In all of those respects it was a vocabulary that accommodated within itself (so to speak) the fraught transition from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft, or 'community' to 'society'. This transition was only made fraughter for contemporaries – and muddier for historians – by the politicization of commonwealth after 1640 and its sequestration by ideologues and partisans.
      • 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner’s punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, page S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport section)‎[1], London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-11-24:
        But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low. With [Oscar] Pistorius, that task is fraught.
      • 2022 December 14, Robin Leleux, “A Royal Occasion as Heritage Projects Honoured: Sudbury Hill”, in Rail, number 972, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 57:
        Installing lift shafts in station buildings which were not originally designed to accommodate them can be a fraught exercise, but a necessary one if the legitimate aspiration of the travelling public for step-free access is to be achieved. At Sudbury Hill, on London Underground's Piccadilly Line extension out to the north-western suburbs, Transport for London has achieved this with aplomb.
    3. Followed by with: furnished, provided.
      Synonyms: equipped, supplied
Derived terms
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Translations
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References

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  1. ^ “fraught, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “fraught, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2023.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 “fraughten, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ Compare “fraught, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  5. ^ “fraught, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2023; “fraught, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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