fried

1. 1
   adjective

   Cooked by frying in hot oil or fat.

   A plate of fried onions sat next to the steak.

   Street vendors sold fried dough dusted with sugar.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of fry.

   The cook fried each fillet separately to keep the oil hot.

   By the time guests arrived, the dumplings had been fried and plated.

   Note

   One spelling does double duty here. It is the simple past (she fried the fish) and also the participle after have or be (the fish had been fried). The verb works with or without an object: you fry onions, and onions fry. Its slang uses carry over too, from US slang for execution by electric chair to circuitry destroyed by too much current, which is the root of the burnt-out-electronics meaning.

3. 3
   adjective

   Cooked in a deep fryer or pressure fryer after being coated in batter or breading.

   The diner is famous for its fried catfish in a crisp cornmeal crust.

   She dredged the cutlets in flour and egg before serving them fried and golden.

   Note

   This is the fried of fried chicken and fried catfish, where a coating is taken for granted. It overlaps heavily with deep-fried. Food technologists split it further by equipment. Harry W. Lawson's Standards for Fats & Oils (2012) contrasts pressure-fried chicken with open-kettle-fried chicken and notes that the kettle version carries a thicker breading, so it gets less seasoning. In technical writing, breaded fried foods form a category of their own.

4. 4
   adjective

   Of an egg, cooked in fat with the yolk left whole and unbroken.

   A fried egg slid off the spatula onto the toast, its yolk intact.

   He topped the rice bowl with an egg fried just enough to keep the center soft.

   Note

   Applied to eggs, the word narrows. A fried egg keeps its yolk whole, which is why eggs can be ordered fried or scrambled even though both are cooked in a hot pan. It often follows the noun as a style of preparation (he ate his eggs fried), where it answers the question of how the eggs are done rather than whether they were cooked in fat.

5. 5
   adjectivecolloquial

   Of an electronic device or component, no longer working because excessive heat or an electrical surge has damaged it.

   He plugged the charger into the wrong voltage and fried the whole circuit board.

   The technician confirmed the graphics card was fried beyond repair.

   Similardead

   Note

   The word works mostly as a verdict after a diagnosis. It usually stands after is or are rather than before a noun: your motherboard is fried. Totally is its natural intensifier, as in Halo 2 (2004): "Optics - totally fried." It is used for hardware such as boards, power supplies and optics, and it implies the damage came from heat or current rather than from a knock or a drop.

6. 6
   adjectiveslang

   Of a person, completely worn out from hard work, stress, or too much mental effort; exhausted.

   Three back-to-back meetings left him fried before lunch.

   By the last mile of the hike everyone was fried and barely talking.

   Similarexhausted, tired, drained, spent, fatigued

   Oppositefresh, rested

   Note

   Here nothing has been taken. The heat is work, stress or a long commute, and the word describes a mind too spent to think of anything but sleep. Unlike the intoxicated uses, it takes no on-phrase, and it usually stands after was or were rather than before a noun. Bushed is the matching slang; weary is the plainer word for careful writing.

7. 7
   adjectiveslang

   Of a person, heavily under the influence of drugs; stoned.

   The pair were so fried on edibles that the movie's plot left them completely lost.

   By the second set he was visibly fried, swaying and staring at the lights.

   Similarhigh, stoned, baked, wasted, toasted

   Oppositesober, straight

   Note

   This is slang for a state brought on by something taken, and the substance follows on: fried on weed, fried on edibles, often with totally in front. The same word also covers being drunk and being worn out, so the on-phrase or the setting usually tells the listener which state is meant. High and blazed are the clearer choices when the drug sense must be unmistakable.

8. 8
   adjectiveslang

   Of a person, very drunk; heavily under the influence of alcohol.

   Three rounds in, half the table was already fried and singing off-key.

   She came home fried after the office party and slept until noon.

   Similarinebriated, besotted, blasted, bombed, blitzed

   Oppositesober

   Note

   Drinkers' slang with a respectable pedigree: Noël Coward's "What's Going to Happen to the Tots?" (1955) has a father who drinks vodka until he is fried. This is the same get fried on pattern as the drug sense, with a drink named instead of a drug. Toasted is a near neighbor from the same kitchen-heat slang. Inebriated is the word to reach for when slang would be out of place.

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