frisk

1 of 2

verb

frisked; frisking; frisks

transitive verb

: to search (a person) for something (such as a concealed weapon) by running the hand rapidly over the clothing and through the pockets

intransitive verb

: to leap, skip, or dance in a lively or playful way : gambol
frisker noun

frisk

2 of 2

noun

1
: an act of frisking
2

Examples of frisk in a Sentence

Verb carefree kids laughing and frisking about in their backyard Noun fondly remembers the summer before he started college as one long frisk
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
The officers then confiscated copies of the book, detained and frisked customers, and put out a warrant for the store owner, who was jailed the next day. Joy Lanzendorfer, The New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2023 The sun gleams with late summer perfection on the beautiful crowd, mostly Black and Latine, and vastly diverse in age—including one elderly woman using a walker, who giggles as the security lady gestures at gently frisking her. Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, Pitchfork, 18 Sep. 2023 He was frisked and an officer found a handgun, the report said. Josephine Peterson, Dallas News, 8 Aug. 2023 Too many people are stopped, frisked, and searched unlawfully. Larry Neumeister, BostonGlobe.com, 6 June 2023 Two officers threw him against the vehicle, frisked and handcuffed him. Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY, 7 June 2023 An independent review of the death of Elijah McClain, the 23-year-old Black man who died in Colorado after being placed in a carotid hold by police and injected with ketamine, was made public on Monday and alleges the officers had no reasonable suspicion to stop and frisk him in the first place. Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, 22 Feb. 2021 Further, officers shall not frisk or search people or view or touch their genitals for gender identification or for any demeaning or harassing purpose. oregonlive, 19 Apr. 2023 Williams had stopped Reynolds and was planning to frisk him. Hartford Courant, 15 Dec. 2022
Noun
The report asserted that officers did not have the legal basis to stop, frisk or restrain McClain. Aya Elamroussi, CNN, 23 Sep. 2023 And stop and frisk, which allowed New York police officers to temporarily detain people and check them for contraband, was practiced for many years, including under Mike Bloomberg's tenure as Mayor. Joe Weisenthal, Bloomberg.com, 20 Apr. 2023 And so the combination of the Rockefeller drug laws and stop and frisk led to people spending years in, in prison for minor cannabis possession. Joe Weisenthal, Bloomberg.com, 20 Apr. 2023 Stop and frisk becomes a plot point, as does the deconstruction of neighborhoods of color that have existed in New York City for generations. Odie Henderson, BostonGlobe.com, 29 Mar. 2023 The other pattern is officers will attempt to justify the frisk by placing the civilian in the back seat of a squad car. Elliot Hughes, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 13 May 2022 But McRae's lawyer would argue that police had no cause to detain his client, saying the arrest resulted from an unconstitutional stop and frisk. Darcie Moran, Detroit Free Press, 10 Mar. 2023 In 2021, there were almost 9,000 stops and frisks, according to NYPD data, and 87% were of Black or Latino people. Harry Bruinius, The Christian Science Monitor, 2 Mar. 2023 Hasina agreed to address the crowd, the Ritz pushed the tables and chairs to the sides of their Old Dominion room, and security formed a frisk and scan line to clear and funnel at least 200 people into the ballroom. Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, 3 Oct. 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'frisk.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

obsolete frisk lively

First Known Use

Verb

1519, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Noun

1525, in the meaning defined at sense 2c

Time Traveler
The first known use of frisk was in 1519

Dictionary Entries Near frisk

Cite this Entry

“Frisk.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frisk. Accessed 2 Dec. 2023.

Kids Definition

frisk

verb
ˈfrisk
1
: to move around in a lively or playful way
2
: to search (a person) quickly especially for concealed weapons
frisker noun

Legal Definition

frisk

transitive verb
: to run the hand rapidly over the outer clothing of (a suspect) for the purpose of finding concealed weapons compare search

Note: The purpose of frisking a suspect is to insure the safety of an officer making an investigation against concealed weapons, not to uncover evidence. The officer must be justified in his or her encounter of the suspect and must have a reasonable suspicion that the suspect is armed. The scope of the frisk must be limited to the discovery of weapons.

frisk noun

More from Merriam-Webster on frisk

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