Fill

Pronunciation

• enPR: fÄ­l, IPA: /fɪl/ or IPA: /fɪɫ/ - Isn't that allophonic?
• Rhymes: -ɪl
• Homophones: Phil

From Middle English fillen, fullen, from Old English fyllan ("to fill, fill up, replenish, satisfy; complete, fulfill"), from Proto-Germanic *fullijaną ("to make full, fill"), from *fullaz ("full"), from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós ("full"). Cognate with Scots fill ("to fill"), West Frisian folje ("to fill"), Dutch vullen ("to fill"), Low German fullen ("to fill"), German füllen ("to fill"), Danish fylde ("to fill"), Swedish fylla ("to fill"), Norwegian fylle ("to fill"), Icelandic fylla ("to fill").

Full definition of fill

Verb

1. (transitive) To occupy fully, to take up all of.
• circa 1761 Tobias Smollett, translator, Don Quixote, part 2, book 5, chapter 4:...the drums began to thunder, the sound of trumpets filled the air, the earth trembled beneath their feet, and the hearts of the gazing multitude throbbed with suspense and expectation...
• circa 1860 Charles Dickens, , chapter 38:And now that I have given the one chapter to the theme that so filled my heart, and so often made it ache and ache again, I pass on, unhindered, to the event that had impended over me longer yet....
2. (transitive) To add contents to (a container, cavity, or the like) so that it is full.
• 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 3, My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.
• 1950, Arthur W. Upfield, The Bachelors of Broken Hill, chapter 11:She continued to frown as she filled Bony's cup and added brandy to her own.
• 2005, Wendy Coakley-Thompson, What You Won't Do for Love (novel), 2006 edition, ISBN 0758207484, page 10 http://google.com/books?id=D8d9M2Lhe3IC&pg=PA10&dq=fill:She forgave him the pain as he filled the cavity in her back molar. Three weeks later, she let him fill a more intimate cavity.
• 2006, Gilbert Morris, Sante Fe Woman, B&H Publishing Group, page 95 http://google.com/books?id=LepY_wtPjvIC&pg=PA95&dq=%22filled+his+plate%22:Grat Herendeen was the first man, a huge man with his bull whip coiled and over his shoulder seeming almost a part of him. He grinned at her as she filled his plate with the eggs and motioned toward the bacon. "Help yourself, Grat."
3. To enter (something), making it full.
• 1910 May 13, John C. Sherwin, opinion, Delashmutt et al. v. Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad et al., reprinted in volume 126, North Western Reporter, page 359, at 360:In the evening of the 14th of July, there was a rainfall of 3 or 3½ inches in that locality. The water filled the ditch so full that it overflowed the levees on both sides in many places....
• 2004, Peter Westen, The Logic of Consent, Ashgate Publishing, ISBN 0754624072, page 322 http://google.com/books?id=17bAKRvHBkcC&pg=PA322&dq=%22as+the+crowd+filled%22:As the crowd filled the aisles, S repeated loudly what he had announced upon entering the stadium: 'I don't want anyone to touch me, and I will call the police if anyone does.'
4. (intransitive) To become full.
   the bucket filled with rain;  the sails fill with wind
5. (intransitive) To become pervaded with something.
   My heart filled with joy.
6. (transitive) To satisfy or obey (an order, request, or requirement).
   The pharmacist filled my prescription for penicillin.
   We can't let the library close! It fills a great need in the community.
7. (transitive) To install someone, or be installed, in (a position or office), eliminating a vacancy.
• 1866, Bedford Clapperton Trevelyan Pim, The Negro, pages 18–19 http://google.com/books?id=E0N-AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA19&dq=filled:It is impossible to resist the conclusion, which experience and history tend to prove, that, the continuous movement of such a vast body of mankind has been influenced by natural laws, that, the negro has filled the position for which he is fitted by nature, and, that, his services were brought into use when the emergency arose necessitating his employment.
• 1891 January 23, Allen Morse, opinion, Lawrence v. Hanley, reprinted in volume 47, Northwestern Reporter, page 753, at 755:The board of supervisors called a specal election to fill the office, and at such special election Henry C. Andrews was elected judge of probate to fill out the said term.
8. Sorry, no more applicants. The position has been filled.
9. (transitive) To treat (a tooth) by adding a dental filling to it.
• a. 1891 "Intimate Diagnosis of Diseased Teeth", in Items of Interest: A Monthly Magazine of Dental Art, Science and Literature, volume 13, number 11, November 1891, page 657 http://google.com/books?id=eS21AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA657&dq=%22filled+the+molar%22:Be that as it may, had the disturbance continued after our having filled the molar, and presuming that nothing had been done to the bicuspid, we might have been still as far as ever from knowing where the trouble lay.
10. (transitive) To fill or supply fully with food; to feed; to satisfy.
• Bible, Matthew xv. 33Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fillso great a multitude?
• Francis BaconThings that are sweet and fat are more filling.
11. (transitive, nautical) To trim (a yard) so that the wind blows on the after side of the sails.

Synonyms

• (occupy fully, take up all of) pervade

Antonyms

• (add contents to a container or cavity) empty
• (to become full) empty

Derived terms

Related terms

• full
• fulfil, fulfill

Old English fyllu, from Proto-Germanic *fullį̄. Cognate with German Fülle.

Noun

1. (after a possessive) A sufficient or more than sufficient amount.Don't feed him any more: he's had his fill.
2. An amount that fills a container.''The mixer returned to the plant for another fill.
3. The filling of a container or area.That machine can do 20 fills a minute.This paint program supports lines, circles, and textured fills.
4. Inexpensive material used to occupy empty spaces, especially in construction.The ruins of earlier buildings were used as fill for more recent construction.
5. (archaeology) Soil and/or human-created debris discovered within a cavity and exposed by excavation; fill soil.

Derived terms

See thill.

Noun

1. One of the thills or shafts of a carriage.----