freet
A superstitious notion or belief with respect to any action or event as a good or a bad omen; a superstition.
If the old “freet” be true “ that those who fall when at the handspake aneath the corpse, will soon be the corpse themsell," there would soon be a good few corspes; for at these "druken" concerns, the bearers are falling some of them every now and then.
A superstitious rite, observance, wont, or practice.
Oh, sister Ellen, sister sweet, Come with me to the hill I pray, And I will prove that blessed freet!
A charm.
Where it comes from
From Middle English frete (“superstition”), from Old Norse frétt (“news, intelligence, inquiry, inquiry about the future”), from Proto-Germanic *frihtiz (“news, report, message, question, prophecy”), related to Icelandic frétt (“news”), Icelandic frétta (“to review”), Danish and Norwegian fritte (“to question, interrogate”), English frain (“to question”). More at frain.
Adapted from the Wiktionary entry freet (CC BY-SA 4.0).