freshen

Etymology

From fresh +‎ -en.

Pronunciation

• enPR: frĕshʹən

Verb

freshen (third-person singular simple present freshens, present participle freshening, simple past and past participle freshened)

1. To become fresh.

   I'm going to go freshen up.

2. To make fresh.
   • 1857, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, book 1, chapter 31

     So go and freshen yourself up, Amy; go and freshen yourself up, like a good girl.

3. (of a cow) To begin or resume giving milk, especially after calving.
   • 1919 January, in The Chenango County Farm Bureau News, volume 5, number 1, page 7:

     For Sale—Three registered holstein cows. Due to freshen the first of Jan. February and March. Prices that will sell. Age three and five years. Eugune Gibson, Smyrna.

4. To make less salty; to separate, as water, from saline ingredients.

   to freshen water, fish, or flesh

5. To refresh; to revive.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

6. (nautical) To relieve, as a rope, by change of place where friction wears it; or to renew, as the material used to prevent chafing.

   to freshen a hawse

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Totten to this entry?)

7. To top up (a drink).
8. (of wind) to become stronger.

Anagrams

• Hefners