fill

[fil] /fɪl/
verb (used with object)
1.
to make full; put as much as can be held into:
to fill a jar with water.
2.
to occupy to the full capacity:
Water filled the basin. The crowd filled the hall.
3.
to supply to an extreme degree or plentifully:
to fill a house with furniture; to fill the heart with joy.
4.
to satisfy fully the hunger of; satiate:
The roast beef filled the diners.
5.
to put into a receptacle:
to fill sand into a pail.
6.
to be plentiful throughout:
Fish filled the rivers.
7.
to extend throughout; pervade completely:
The odor filled the room.
8.
to furnish with an occupant:
The landlord filled the vacancy yesterday.
9.
to provide (an office or opening) with an incumbent:
The company is eager to fill the controllership.
10.
to occupy and perform the duties of (a vacancy, position, post, etc.).
11.
to supply the requirements or contents of (an order), as for goods; execute.
12.
to supply (a blank space) with written matter, decorative work, etc.
13.
to meet satisfactorily, as requirements:
This book fills a great need.
14.
to make up, compound, or otherwise provide the contents of (a medical prescription).
15.
to stop up or close (a cavity, hole, etc.):
to fill a tooth.
16.
Cookery. to insert a filling into:
to fill cupcakes with custard.
17.
Nautical.
  1. to distend (a sail) by pressure of the wind so as to impart headway to a vessel.
  2. to brace (a yard) so that the sail will catch the wind on its after side.
18.
to adulterate:
to fill soaps with water.
19.
Civil Engineering, Building Trades. to build up the level of (an area) with earth, stones, etc.
verb (used without object)
20.
to become full:
The hall filled rapidly. Our eyes filled with tears.
21.
to increase in atmospheric pressure:
a filling cyclone.
22.
to become distended, as sails with the wind.
noun
23.
a full supply; enough to satisfy want or desire:
to eat one's fill.
24.
an amount of something sufficient for filling; charge.
25.
Civil Engineering, Building Trades. a quantity of earth, stones, etc., for building up the level of an area of ground:
These houses were built on fill.
Compare backfill.
26.
the feed and water in the digestive tract of a livestock animal, especially that consumed before marketing.
Verb phrases
27.
fill away, Nautical.
  1. to fall off the wind and proceed on a board.
  2. to brace the yards, so that sails that have been aback will stand full.
28.
fill in,
  1. to supply missing or desired information:
    Fill in the facts of your business experience.
  2. to complete by adding detail, as a design or drawing:
    to fill in a sketch with shadow.
  3. to substitute for:
    to fill in for a colleague who is ill.
  4. to fill with some material:
    to fill in a crack with putty.
  5. Informal. to supply (someone) with information:
    Please fill me in on the morning news.
29.
fill out,
  1. to complete (a document, list, etc.) by supplying missing or desired information.
  2. to become larger, fuller, or rounder, as the figure:
    The children have begun to fill out since I saw them last.
30.
fill up,
  1. to fill completely:
    to fill up a glass; to fill up a fuel tank.
  2. to become completely filled:
    The riverbed filled up as a result of the steady rains.
Idioms
31.
fill and stand on, Nautical. (of a sailing vessel) to proceed on a tack after being hove to or halted facing the wind; fill away.
32.
fill the bill. bill1 (def 16).
Origin
before 900; Middle English fillen, Old English fyllan; cognate with German füllen, Gothic fulljan to make full; see full1
Related forms
fillable, adjective
half-filled, adjective
unfilled, adjective
well-filled, adjective
Synonyms
2. crowd, pack, jam, cram. 13. satisfy, answer, fulfill.
Examples from the web for fill
  • fill in the blanks in this article about a dinner featuring edible insects.
  • During the next few weeks, hundreds of thousands of college students will fill out course-evaluation forms.
  • fill the gloves with the green-colored, sugar-free lemonade and tie them securely at the wrists with string or a rubber band.
  • Piles of studies fill the cavernous gap between the have and have-nots in this country.
  • fill out the form and you will be emailed instruction on downloading your ticket.
  • fill in the blanks in this article about a psychological dieting strategy.
  • Technology companies struggle to fill vacant positions.
  • Seemingly, any description of x could fill the space after the colon.
  • It takes forever to fill the old-school guns with the t-shaped tab that retains the cap.
  • fill in the blanks in the first several paragraphs of this article about pumpkin smashing.
British Dictionary definitions for fill

fill

/fɪl/
verb (mainly transitive) often foll by up
1.
(also intransitive) to make or become full: to fill up a bottle, the bath fills in two minutes
2.
to occupy the whole of: the party filled two floors of the house
3.
to plug (a gap, crevice, cavity, etc)
4.
to meet (a requirement or need) satisfactorily
5.
to cover (a page or blank space) with writing, drawing, etc
6.
to hold and perform the duties of (an office or position)
7.
to appoint or elect an occupant to (an office or position)
8.
(building trades) to build up (ground) with fill
9.
(also intransitive) to swell or cause to swell with wind, as in manoeuvring the sails of a sailing vessel
10.
to increase the bulk of by adding an inferior substance
11.
(poker) to complete (a full house, etc) by drawing the cards needed
12.
(mainly US & Canadian) to put together the necessary materials for (a prescription or order)
13.
(informal) fill the bill, to serve or perform adequately
noun
14.
material such as gravel, stones, etc, used to bring an area of ground up to a required level
15.
one's fill, the quantity needed to satisfy one: to eat your fill
See also fill away, fill in, fill out, fill up
Word Origin
Old English fyllan; related to Old Frisian fella, Old Norse fylla, Gothic fulljan, Old High German fullen; see full1, fulfil
Word Origin and History for fill
v.

Old English fyllan "fill up, replenish, satisfy," from Proto-Germanic *fullijan (cf. Old Saxon fulljan, Old Norse fylla, Old Frisian fella, Dutch vullen, German füllen "to fill"), a derivative of adj. *fullaz "full" (see full (adj.)). Related: Filled.

To fill the bill (1882) originally was U.S. theatrical slang, in reference to a star whose name would be the only one on a show's poster. To fill out "write in required matter" is recorded from 1880. Fill-in "substitute" (n.) is from 1918.

n.

"a full supply," mid-13c., fille, from Old English fylle, from Proto-Germanic *fullin- (cf. Old High German fulli, German Fülle, Old Norse fyllr), noun of state from *fullaz "full" (see full (adj.)). Meaning "extra material in music" is from 1934.

Idioms and Phrases with fill

fill

also see:
also see under:
full