fress

Meaning

Verb

• to eat without restraint; eat heartily

Origin

• From Yiddish פֿרעסן or German fressen, from Middle High German vrezzen, from Old High German frezzan, from Proto-Germanic *fraetaną, from *fra- + *etaną, equivalent to for- + eat. Cognate with Old English fretan. fret.
• In German, fressen (eat) and saufen (drink) are used about non-humans, whereas the corresponding words used about human behavior are essen and trinken. "Es trinkt der Mann, es säuft das Pferd / bei manchem ist es umgekehrt" ("the man drinks, the horse gulps it down / [but] with many it's the other way 'round") is a common humorous couplet in German with many variations (e.g., ...in Bayern ist es...)