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# fry

«fry» in Mova's school dictionary: **to cook it in hot oil or fat in a pan** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (fry, fries, fried, frying); noun (fry — young fish; fries — chips)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To fry food is to cook it in hot oil or fat in a pan. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/#m1)

2) Fries (plural) are long thin pieces of potato cooked in oil, called «chips» in the UK and Ireland. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/#m2)

3) Fry are very young fish just hatched. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/#m3)

4) "Small fry" can also mean unimportant people or things. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life and cooking lessons: fry eggs, bacon, fish; «fish and chips»; «a fry-up» (UK breakfast). In science, fish life cycles go from egg to fry to adult. Phrases: «fry an egg», «French fries», «small fry» (unimportant people), «stir-fry».

### examples

- Can you fry an egg for me? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/#x1)
- Mum fried the fish in a little oil. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/#x2)
- I'd like a burger and fries. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/#x3)
- The fry swam in the shallow water. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/#x4)
- Let's make a stir-fry with vegetables. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/#x5)
- Fry the onions until they are soft. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/#x6)
- In the UK, fries are usually called chips. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/#x7)
- Don't worry about him — he's just small fry. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/#x8)
- "No small fry for me," he said. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/#x9)

### note

Forms: fry, fries, fried, frying. Fish «fry» is the same in singular and plural: «a thousand fry». Safety: never leave a frying pan alone on the hob; if oil catches fire, never pour water on it — an adult covers it with a lid and turns off the heat. In maths, fries appear in money problems.

### In the corpora

- [At a night market in Thailand a child your age buys a paper cone of fried crickets the way you might buy chips.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/290-insects-as-food-in-other-countries/0/)
- [The Otter asks the Mole to fry him some ham, and the Mole sets the hedgehogs to do it.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/39-willows-ch4-part3-the-otter-and-underground-homes/5/)
- [A chip pan is a deep pan of hot oil for frying chips, and it can catch fire if it gets too hot.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/105-knives-kitchen-tools-and-cooking/13/)
- [des frites are chips (French fries) and des chips are crisps.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/18-food-and-drink/7/)
- [le pain perdu ("lost bread") is French toast: old bread soaked in egg and milk and fried.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/18-food-and-drink/14/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «fry» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fry/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.