I. ˌFrench ˈfry BrE AmE ( also fry ) noun ( plural French fries ) [countable usually plural] especially American English
a long thin piece of potato that has been cooked in hot oil SYN chip British English
II. fry 1 S3 /fraɪ/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle fried , present participle frying , third person singular fries )
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: frire , from Latin frigere ]
1 . [intransitive and transitive] to cook something in hot fat or oil, or to be cooked in hot fat or oil:
Fry the potatoes, covered, for about 20 minutes.
I could smell onions frying.
⇨ ↑ deep fry , ↑ stir-fry 1
2 . [intransitive and transitive] American English informal to kill someone in an ↑ electric chair , or to be killed in an electric chair, as a punishment
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THESAURUS
■ ways of cooking something
▪ bake to cook things such as bread or cakes in an oven:
Tom baked a cake for my birthday.
▪ roast to cook meat or vegetables in an oven:
Roast the potatoes for an hour.
▪ fry to cook food in hot oil:
She was frying some mushrooms.
▪ stir-fry to fry small pieces of food while moving them around continuously:
stir-fried tofu and bean sprouts
▪ sauté /ˈsəʊteɪ $ soʊˈteɪ/ to fry vegetables for a short time in a small amount of butter or oil:
Sauté the potatoes in butter.
▪ grill to cook food over or under strong heat:
grilled fish
▪ broil American English to cook food under heat:
broiled fish
▪ boil to cook something in very hot water:
He doesn’t even know how to boil an egg.
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English people seem to love boiled vegetables.
▪ steam to cook vegetables over hot water:
Steam the rice for 15 minutes.
▪ poach to cook food, especially fish or eggs, slowly in hot water:
poached salmon
▪ toast to cook the outside surfaces of bread:
toasted muffins
▪ barbecue to cook food on a metal frame over a fire outdoors:
I thought we could barbecue some mackerel.
▪ microwave to cook food in a microwave oven:
The beans can be microwaved.
III. fry 2 BrE AmE ( also french fry ) noun ( plural fries ) [countable usually plural] especially American English
a long thin piece of potato that has been cooked in fat SYN chip British English
IV. fry 3 BrE AmE noun [plural]
very young fish
⇨ ↑ small fry