Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
fretless en · ADJ
Etymology
Etymology tree
English fret
Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁-
Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der.
Proto-Germanic *leusaną
Proto-Germanic *lausaz
Proto-Germanic *-lausaz
Proto-West Germanic *-laus
Old English -lēas
Middle English -les
English -less
English fretless
From fret + -less.
Meanings
-
(not-comparable) Of a stringed instrument, not having frets on the fingerboard.
-
(not-comparable) Without worries.
You would live longer and happier if you would only be quiet and fretless.
1895, Virginia Reed, Daily Cheer for All the Year, Philadelphia: G.W. Jacobs & Co., →OCLC, page 18:Will the fretless world be happy or will restless nature shout / For some old-time fret or worry just to rave and kick about?
1907 August, J. W. Foley, quotee, “The Menace of Reform”, in Texas Medical News, volume 16, number 10, Austin: Texas Medical News Publishing Co., →ISSN, page 525:Is it not worth while to try and approximate, if we cannot hope to attain, the ideal of fretless, fussless, and unworrying poise?
1913, George Lincoln Walton, Calm Yourself, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC, page 7:
Antonyms
fretted
Deriveds
fretless bass
Translations (3)
fi otenauhaton ((of an instrument) having no frets) · sv bandlös ((of an instrument) having no frets) · ru безладовый ((of an instrument) having no frets)
fretless en · NOUN
Etymology
Etymology tree
English fret
Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁-
Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der.
Proto-Germanic *leusaną
Proto-Germanic *lausaz
Proto-Germanic *-lausaz
Proto-West Germanic *-laus
Old English -lēas
Middle English -les
English -less
English fretless
From fret + -less.
Meanings
-
A stringed instrument without frets on the fingerboard.
Many fretlesses, especially less expensive models that mimic a fretted counterpart, have fretted-bass nut slots.
2008, Jonathan Hererra, “ASK BP”, in Chris Jisi, editor, Bass Player Presents The Fretless Bass, Milwaukee: Backbeat Books, →ISBN:Read's creations have covered just about all of bass-dom, from vintage-style 4-strings to 32-position fretlesses to 25-fret 8-strings tuned F♯BEADGCF.
2003, Jim Roberts, American Basses, San Francisco: Backbeat Books, →ISBN, page 150:No other machine can produce sounds which are so often described as 'singing', 'purring', 'humming', and 'ringing'. But this array of mellifluous notes doesn't come cheaply: even those who have mastered the fretless to moderate levels of proficiency have been obliged to spend many hundreds of hours on techniques which fretted-bass players either take for granted or simply do not require.
2006, Adrian Ashton, The Bass Handbook, San Francisco: Backbeat Books, →ISBN, page 47:
Forms