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Webster 1913 Edition

Fraught

Fraught

(fra̤t)
,
Noun.
[OE.
fraight
,
fraght
; akin to Dan.
fragt
, Sw.
frakt
, D.
vracht
, G.
fracht
, cf. OHG.
frēht
merit, reward; perh. from a pref. corresponding to E.
for
+ The root of E.
own
. Cf.
Freight
.]
A freight; a cargo.
[Obs.]
Shak.

Fraught

,
Adj.
Freighted; laden; filled; stored; charged.
A vessel of our country richly
fraught
.
Shakespeare
A discourse
fraught
with all the commending excellences of speech.
South.
Enterprises
fraught
with world-wide benefits.
I. Taylor.

Fraught

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Fraughted
or
Fraught
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Fraughting
.]
[Akin to Dan.
fragte
, Sw.
frakta
, D.
bevrachten
, G.
frachten
, cf. OHG.
frēhtōn
to deserve. See
Fraught
,
Noun.
]
To freight; to load; to burden; to fill; to crowd.
[Obs.]
Upon the tumbling billows
fraughted
ride
The armed ships.
Fairfax.

Webster 1828 Edition

Fraught

FRAUGHT

,
Adj.
fraut.
1.
Laden; loaded; charged; as a vessel richly fraught with goods from India. This sense is used in poetry; but in common business, freighted only is used.
2.
Filled; stored; full; as a scheme fraught with mischief; the scriptures are fraught with excellent precepts.

FRAUGHT

,
Noun.
A freight; a cargo. [Not now used.]

FRAUGHT

,
Verb.
T.
To load; to fill; to crowd. Obs.

Definition 2024

fraught

fraught

English

Noun

fraught ‎(uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) The hire of a ship or boat to transport cargo.
  2. (obsolete) Money paid to hire a ship or boat to transport cargo; freight
    fraught money.
  3. (obsolete) The transportation of goods, especially in a ship or boat.
  4. (obsolete) A ship's cargo, lading or freight.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  5. (Scotland) A load; a burden.
  6. (Scotland) Two bucketfuls (of water).

Derived terms

  • fraught-free

Verb

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

  1. (transitive, obsolete except in past participle) To load (a ship, cargo etc.).
    • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare
      Had I been any god of power, I would / Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er / It should the good ship so have swallow'd and / The fraughting souls within her.

Adjective

fraught ‎(comparative more fraught, superlative most fraught)

  1. (of a cargo-carrier) Laden.
    • Shakespeare
      a vessel of our country richly fraught
  2. (with with) Furnished, equipped.
  3. (figuratively, with with) Loaded up, charged or accompanied.
    • South
      a discourse fraught with all the commending excellences of speech
    • I. Taylor
      enterprises fraught with world-wide benefits
    • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 236d.
      all these matters are fraught with paradox, just as they always have been
  4. Distressed.
    a fraught relationship
    • 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, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport):
      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.

Translations

References

Etymology

From Middle English, from Middle Dutch vracht or Middle Low German vracht ‎(“freight money”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *fra- ‎(intensive prefix) + Proto-Germanic *aihtiz ‎(“possession”), from Proto-Indo-European *eik'- ‎(“to possess”). Cognate with Old High German frēht ‎(“earnings”), Old English ǣht ‎(“owndom”). More at for-, own.

Pronunciation

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