fill 
water Jills the vessel ; the company filled the 
house ; HIT Jills the space all around us. 
The earth u-MjillrtI with violence. CIMI. vi. 11. 
Iluundless tli. drcp. because I Am, vhu Jill 
Inltnitmle; nor vacuous tin 1 space. 
ililtnn, V. L., vii. 168. 
This is the iileii which heliums to body, wherc-hy we con- 
ceive it to Sill space. The idea uf which Jillin;/ of space 
is, that, where we imagine any space taken up by a solid 
substance, we conceive it so to possess it, that it excludes 
all other solid substances. 
Locke, Hainan Understanding, II. iv. '2. 
3. To satisfy or content with fullness; glut; 
satiate. 
2rf L<n'<l. Thou art going to Lord Tinion's feast. 
Atn'iH. Ay; to sec inuat/iU knaves, and wine heat fools. 
Shak.,T. of A.,1. 1. 
It niaks y Indeans of these parts rich <fc powerfull and 
also prowd therby ; and Jills them with peeces, powder, 
and shote, which no laws can restraine. 
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 235. 
4. Naut.: (a) To distend, as a sail, to its full 
extent by pressure, as of the wind. 
A stately ship, . . . 
With all her bravery on, and tackle trim, 
Sjiils fill'd, and streamers waving. 
Milton, S. A., 1. 718. 
(6) To brace, as the yards, so that the wind 
will bear upon the sails and distend them. 
5. To supply with an incumbent : as, to fill an 
office or a vacancy. 6. To possess and perform 
the duties of; officiate in as an incumbent; 
hold or occupy : as, he fills his office accepta- 
bly ; to fill the speaker's chair. 
Ilndiscerning praise, 
Where love is mere attachment to the throne, 
Not to the man who Jills it as he ought. 
Cuivper, Task, v. 362. 
He had long filled lucrative posts. 
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. 
7. To pour into something. 
Fill me some wine. 
Shak.,T. of A.,iii. 1. 
8. To stop up the cracks, crevices, or pores 
of, or hollows in ; cover with a substance, as 
varnish, paste, or sizing, which will smooth or 
even the surface of, as leather, wood, canvas, 
or the like ; specifically, to apply a varnish or 
paste to (wood), in order to fill the grain. See 
filler 1 , 3. 9. In trade, to make up the bulk, 
or produce a desired appearance of, by using 
sham or inferior materials ; adulterate ; doctor ; 
water. 
The methods of production of Jilled (i. e., adulterated 
and watered) soaps. Nature, XXXVIII. 297. 
To fill in. (i) To place material in so as to fill np : as, to 
Jill in an excavation or a cavity. (b) To insert so as to 
complete a list, an account, etc.: as, \\efilled in the omit- 
ted items. To fill out. () To complete or make com- 
plete; extend or enlarge to the desired limit: as, to Jill out 
a check or an engagement ; to Jill out a pattern or a gar- 
ment with different material. (6) To pour out. [Obso- 
lete or colloq.] 
Adding many prayers, that the comming of their guests 
might be lor good, and then did _/'// out the wine, making 
a great curtesie. furcha, Pilgrimage, p. 448. 
While one Jilled me out very bitter tea, the other sweet- 
ened it with a vast deal of brown sugar. 
Gray, Letters, I. 147. 
To fill the bill, to do all that is desired, expected, or 
rmised ; suit the requirements of the case. [Slang, 
S.] TO fill time, in theatrical cant, to book dates for 
performances. To fill up. (a) To make full ; occupy 
completely or to the whole extent ; complete ; accom- 
plish : as, to Jill up an excavation ; to Jill up one's time ; 
to Jill up or nil out a blank document. 
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fUl up 
that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ 'in my 
flesh. Col. i. 24. 
It pours the bliss that fills up all the mind. 
Pope, Essay on Man, iv. 344. 
(fit) To make complete or finished. 
God sometims hids a sinner till his wickednes is Jilled 
up. 
Chaiincy,(iuoted in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 396. 
II. in trans. 1. To pour a liquid into a cup or 
glass until it is full ; hence, to give or take to 
drink. 
11 Fyll of the best wyne," sayd Robyn, 
"This monke shall drynke to me." 
Lijtell Geste of Robyn llode (Child's Ballads, V. 85). 
In the cup which she hath filled, Jill to her double. 
Rev. xviii. 6. 
2. To grow or become full: as, corn fills well 
in a warm season ; a mill-pond fills during the 
night. 
The sails that were o' taffetie, 
fr'ill'd not in the east land breeze. 
The Demon Lover (Child's Ballads, I. 203). 
To back and fill. See back'. To fill away (juror.), 
to br;ice the yards, so that sails which have been aback 
will stand full. To fill out, to become enlarged or dis- 
tended. -To fill up. to grow or become full: as, the 
channel of the river nUtvp with sand every spring. 
fill 1 (fil), n. [< ME. jilt; fulle, (Wto, < AS. fyllit, 
fyllo, fullness, fill (= OHO./WH, G. fillle = Icel. 
2215 
fi/lli Sw. fylle = Dan. fylde = Goth, fullei (in 
comp. ufar-fullei), also fullii. fullness), < full, 
etc., E. full'-, q. v. In def. '2 the noun is direct- 
ly from the verb.] 1. A full supply; enough 
to satisfy want or desire; as much as gives 
complete satisfaction. 
If ony man loue me, lene me a plase 
Where y may wepe my fille it reste. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furuivall), p. 213. 
The land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your Jilt. 
Lev. xxv. 19. 
They sat together that long summer's day, 
And could not talk their fill. 
Fair Margaret and Sweet Wt'Hiavt (Child's Ballads,!!. 141). 
2. An amount of something sufficient for fill- 
ing; a charge. 
The earth and clay for the fill were obtained from Fruit- 
vale, some seven miles distant from the mole ; and here 
the most perfect system of blasting in earth waa carried 
out. Eisiler, Mod. High Explosives, p. 265. 
Old and young, we are on our last cruise. If there is a 
fill of tobacco among the crew, . . . pass it round, and 
let us have a pipe before we go ! 
H. L. Stevenson, Crabbed Age and Youth. 
fill 2 (fil), n. [Dial, for thill, q. v. The inter- 
change of th and / is not uncommon . ] A shaft ; 
a thill. 
Come your ways, come your ways ; an you draw back- 
ward we 11 put you i' the fills. Shak., T. and C., iii. 2. 
fillet, v. t. An obsolete variant of fell 1 . 
fil! 4 t. An obsolete preterit of faff*. 
fill 6 (fil), ". A dialectal variant of field. 
fill 6 t (61), . [< ME. fille, < AS. fille, fylle, 
thyme.] Thyme. 
The lilie is lossom to seo, the fenyl ant the fille. 
Specimens of Lyric Poetry (ed. Wright), p. 44. 
[This word, like cress and other common plant-names, was 
often used as a symbol of worthlessness. 
Ich am of kynges ycome, * thou nart not worth a fille. 
Robert of Gloucester, p. 128.] 
fillagree, n. and a. See filigree. 
filler 1 (fiVer), . 1. One who or that which 
fills ; especially, a vessel or utensil for convey- 
ing a liquid into a bottle, cask, etc. ; a funnel. 
Brave soldier, yield ; thou stock of arms and honour ; 
Thou filler of the world with fame and glory. 
Fletcher, Bonduca, iv. 1. 
They have six diggers to four fillers, so as to keep the 
fillers always at work. Mortimer, Husbandry. 
2. That which serves to fill up or supply a va- 
cancy; a filling. 
Horrentia is such a flat epithet as Tully would have 
given us in his verses. It is a mere filler, to stop a vacancy 
in the hexameter, and connect the preface to the work of 
Virgil. Dryden, Epic Poetry. 
3. In painting, a material applied to the bare 
wood for the purpose of filling the grain, thus 
making a smooth surface for the reception of 
the coat of paint or varnish. Fillers may be a li- 
quid like varnish, or a paste composed of linseed-oil and 
any material with a tendency to force its way into the grain 
of the wood, as silica, powdered glass, or ground slate. 
They are transparent and do not mar the beauty of the 
wood. 
4. The tobacco which makes the body of a cigar, 
as distinguished from the wrapper. 
Cigar-makers always have an assistant (usually a girl), 
who prepares the fillers and wrappers for them. 
U. S. Cons. Rep., No. Ixvi. (1886), p. 426. 
filler 2 (fil'er), n. [E. dial., also spelled fillar, 
= K.thiller,q.v. See fill 2 .] A thill-horse: same 
as thiller. 
filler-box (fil'er-boks), n. In a brick-machine, 
one of the receptacles for prepared clay from 
which the brick-molds are filled. Also called 
charge-box. 
It is impossible to fill the charge-boxes, or, as they are 
also termed, the "filler-boxes," with any degree of regu- 
larity in dry-clay machines. 
C. T. Davis, Bricks and Tiles, p. 177. 
fillet (fil'et), . [< ME. filet, felet, < OF. fillet, 
F. filet, a thread, band, a net, the chine of beef, 
etc., = Pr. filet = Sp. Pg. filete = It. filetto, < 
ML. filettum, a small thread, a net, dim. of L. 
filum, thread: see./Me3.] 1. A little band to tie 
about the hair of the head. 
Some [hair] in her threaden fillet still did bide. 
Shak., Lover's Complaint, 1. 33. 
Others the binding Fillets more become. 
Congreoe, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love. 
A belt her waist, a fillet binds her hair. 
Pope, Windsor Forest, 1. 178. 
2f. A bill or paper kept on a file ; a bill of fare. 
Who vseth (by a tricke taken vp of late) to giue in a 
hreefe rehearsall of such and so manie dishes as are to 
come in at euerie course throughout the whole seruice in 
the dinner or supper while : which bill some doo call a 
memoriall, other a billet, but some a fillet, bicanse such 
are commonlie hanged on the file, and kept by the ladie 
or gentlewoman vnto some other purpose. 
Holinshed, Chron. (ed. 1586), I. 196. 
filling 
3. In arch.: (a) A small molding having the 
appearance of a narrow flat band; an annulet; 
a list; alistel. It often projects, and ia then rectangu- 
lar in section. It is generally used to separate ornaments 
and moldings. 
Glittering with fillet* of white marble running round 
pointed windows. D. G. Mitchell, Bound Together, ii. 
(6) The ridge between the flutes of a column; a 
facet. 4. In her. : (a) A bearing consisting of 
a barrulet occupying a position corresponding 
to the lower edge of the chief. (6) A bearing 
consisting of a quarter of the bordure. [Bare.] 
(c) Same as boston : in this sense usually called 
fillet of bastardy. Alsocombel. 5. Intechnol.: 
(a) In carp. : (1) A strip nailed to a wall or par- 
tition to support a shelf, or a strip for a door to 
close against. (2) A strip set into an angle be- 
tween two boards. (6) In gilding, a band of gold- 
leaf on a picture-frame orelsewhere. (c) In coin- 
ing, a strip of metal rolled to a certain size, (d) 
The thread of a screw, (e) A ring on the muzzle 
of a gun, etc . (/) In a dairy, a perforated curb by 
which cheese-curds are confined. (</) In book- 
binding, a wheel-shaped tool on the edge of which 
is engraved a line or decoration, which is im- 
pressed on the backs or covers of books. (7i) In 
teleg., a paper ribbon upon which telegrams are 
recorded, (i) In printing, a rule with broad or 
broad and narrow lines, principally used as a 
border. E. H. Knight, (j) In weaving, a strip 
of card-clothing. E. H. Knight, 6. A muscle, 
or a piece of meat composed of muscle; espe- 
cially, the fleshy part of the thigh. The fillet of 
beef is the tenderloin ; the fillet of veal, a thick piece cut 
from the leg ; the fillet of chicken, the breast, 
Fillet of a fenny snake, 
In the caldron boil and bake. 
Shak., Macbeth, iv. 1. 
7. In the manege, the loins of a horse, beginning 
at the place where the hinder part of the saddle 
rests. 8. Incooking: (a) A piece of beef, veal, 
or chicken, etc., boned and rolled, generally 
larded, tied round to keep it in shape, roasted 
or baked, and served with various sauces. (6) 
A thick slice of fish. 9. In anat., some special 
bundle of nerve-fibers; specifically, a band of 
longitudinal fibers lying in the ventral and outer 
parts of the tegmental region of the brain. Its 
distribution is not completely known, but it seems to con- 
nect below with the posterior columns of the spinal cord 
and above with the corpora quadrigemina, optic thalami, 
lenticular nucleus, and cortex cerebri. Also called lein- 
niscus. 
10. Inentom.: (a) A narrow transverse colored 
band or mark, or an encircling band. (6) The 
space between the eyes and the base of the 
mandibles or chelicerse, as of a spider Cross 
nllet. See cnwsi. Tiltlng-flllet, a slip of wood of trian- 
gular section placed underthe slates of a roof in some situ- 
ations, as around chimneys, to shed water more effectually. 
fillet (fil'et), v. t. [< fillet, n.] To bind, fur- 
nish, or adorn with a fillet or little band. 
He made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapi- 
ters, and filleted them. Ex. xxxviii. 28. 
He holds A filleted branch, and rests on his club. 
B. V. Head, Historia Numorum, p. 81. 
fillet-cutter (fiTet-kut"er), . A gaged tool or 
machine for cutting fillets or strips of any ma- 
terial, as marble, etc. 
For this operation [the cutting of the fillets], in which 
the fillets should all be of the same size, this regularity can 
only be obtained by & fillet-cutter, formed with precision. 
Marble- Worker, 132. 
filleting (fil'et-ing),n. 1. The material of which 
fillets are made. 2. Fillets collectively. 3. 
A kind of heavy tape. Also called stay-tape or 
stay-binding. 
fillet-plane (fil'et-plan), n. A molding-plane 
adapted for dressing a square bead or fillet. 
fill-horse (fil'h6rs), n. [See fill 2 , n.~\ Same as 
thill-horse. 
Thon hast got more hair on thy chin than Dobbin my 
phill-horse has on his tail. Shak., M. of V., li. 2. 
fillibeg, . See filibeg. 
filling (fifing), H. [Verbal n. of filfl, .] 1. 
That which fills, or fills up; anything used for 
occupying a vacant space, completing a struc- 
ture or fabric, or stopping up a hole : as, the 
filling of a wall, of a pie, or of a tooth. 
The low panelled dado is painted in leather-toned buffs, 
with a narrow panel margin in broken green tint, and gild- 
ed mouldings. . . . This forms a quiet base for the tilling. 
Beck's Jour. Dec. Art, II. 343. 
Specifically 2. Carpeting of solid color, used 
to fill up recesses outside of bordered carpets, 
or to cover the whole floor where rugs are used. 
3. The woof- or weft-thread of a woven fab- 
ric. 4. (a) In needlework, any plain stitch 
which serves to fill considerable spaces. (6) 
In lace-making, the simple stitch which serves 
