Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - frieze

 I. noun  Etymology: Middle English frise, from Anglo-French, from Middle Dutch vriese  Date: 15th century  1. a heavy durable coarse wool and shoddy fabric with a rough surface  2. a pile surface of uncut loops or of patterned cut and uncut loops  II. noun  Etymology: Middle French frise, perhaps from Medieval Latin phrygium, frisium embroidered cloth, from Latin phrygium, from neuter of Phrygius Phrygian, from Phrygia  Date: 1563  1. the part of an entablature between the architrave and the cornice  2. a sculptured or richly ornamented band (as on a building or piece of furniture)  3. a band, line, or series suggesting a ~ a constant ~ of visitors wound its way around the…ruins — Mollie Panter-Downes  • ~like adjective