Definition

1. Verb:

   • To cook food in hot oil or fat: The primary meaning refers to the cooking method where food is submerged or cooked in hot fat, typically until browned and crisp.
   • To be cooked by frying: The word can also describe the state of the food itself undergoing this process.
   • (Slang) To be executed by electrocution: An informal, specific use referring to execution in an electric chair.
   • (Informal) To be or become extremely hot, especially from the sun: Used figuratively to describe overheating or sunburn.

2. Noun:

   • Recently hatched fish; young fish: Refers to very young fish, especially when they are newly independent from the yolk sac.
   • (Informal) A social gathering where food is fried and eaten: Often used in compounds like "fish fry."
   • (Archaic/Slang) A young person or child: This usage is now rare or considered informal.

Examples

• Verb:

  • She will fry the eggs in a little butter. (She will cook the eggs in hot butter.)
  • The onions are frying in the pan. (The onions are being cooked in hot oil.)
  • (Informal) If you don't wear sunscreen, you'll fry at the beach. (You will get severely sunburned.)

• Noun:

  • The stream was teeming with salmon fry. (The stream was full of young salmon.)
  • The church is hosting a fish fry on Friday. (The church is holding an event where fried fish is served.)

Advanced Usage

• "to fry up": To cook a meal, especially quickly, by frying.
  • I'll just fry up some bacon and eggs for breakfast.
• "out of the frying pan and into the fire": An idiom meaning to go from a bad situation to a worse one.
  • Quitting that stressful job without another lined up was like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Variants and Related Words

• Fried (adj.): The past participle and adjective form describing food cooked by frying.
  • I love fried chicken.
• Fryer (n.): A person who fries food or a deep pot used for frying.
  • He works as a fryer in the restaurant.
• Frying (n./gerund): The action or process of cooking food in hot oil.
  • The frying of the doughnuts filled the kitchen with a sweet smell.
• Stir-fry (v./n.): A specific cooking technique involving frying quickly while stirring in a wok.
  • For dinner, we made a vegetable stir-fry.

Synonyms

• Sauté: To fry quickly in a small amount of oil, often while tossing.
• Pan-fry: To fry in a pan with a small amount of fat.
• Deep-fry: To fry by completely submerging food in hot oil.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Fry up: To cook something by frying, often a quick meal.
  • Can you fry up some potatoes to go with the steak?

Related Idioms

• Have bigger/other fish to fry: To have more important or different things to do or deal with.
  • I can't worry about that minor issue now; I have bigger fish to fry.
• Small fry:
  • Unimportant people or things.

    • Don't worry about those complaints; they're just small fry.
  • Young children.

    • The movie is suitable for the small fry.

Noun

1. a young person of either sex
   • she writes books for children
   • they're just kids
   • `tiddler' is a British term for youngster
2. English dramatist noted for his comic verse dramas (born 1907)
3. English painter and art critic (1866-1934)

Verb

1. kill by electrocution, as in the electric chair
   • The serial killer was electrocuted
2. cook on a hot surface using fat
   • fry the pancakes
3. be excessively hot
   • If the children stay out on the beach for another hour, they'll be fried