Meanings
present singular third person transfretes · participle present transfreting · participle past transfreted · past transfreted
- datedearly modern EnglishTo cross a channel or narrow sea.
3 more examples
c. 1567, William Painter, "The Marchionisse of Monferrato", in The Palace of Pleasure, volume 2, page 181, Joseph Haselwood, editor, 1813 edition The marquesse then of Monferrato, a citye in Italy, beynge a gentleman of great prowesse and valiance, was appointed to transfrete the seas in a generall passage made by the Christians, wyth an huge armie and great furniture.
a. 1597, William Hunnis, "The Complaint of Old Age", in, 1859, James Hamilton, editor, Our Christian Classics: readings from the best divines, with notes biographical and critical, volume I, James Nisbet and Co., page 135, While foreign tongues they seek, Their knowledge to maintain, And fear not to transfrete the seas, And Alps to climb with pain
a. 1660, Thomas Urquhart translation of, François Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel, book 1, chapter 33, 2005 edition, →ISBN, page 78, There is no need (said they) at this time; have we not hurried up and down, travelled and toyled enough, in having transfreted and past over the Hircanian sea, marched alongst the two Armenias and the three Arabias?
Origin
- Latintransfreto“cross a strait or sea”
- Middle English[Term?]
- Englishtransfrete
From Middle English [Term?], ultimately from Latin transfreto (“cross a strait or sea”), from trans (“across”) + fretum or fretus (“strait, channel”).
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
transfrete. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transfrete
“transfrete.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transfrete. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “transfrete,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transfrete.
Source: transfrete on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.