fill: Meaning and Definition of

fill

Pronunciation: (fil), [key]
— v.t.
  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. to insert a filling into: to fill cupcakes with custard.
    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.
  17. to adulterate: to fill soaps with water.
  18. to build up the level of (an area) with earth, stones, etc.
—v.i.
  1. to become full: The hall filled rapidly. Our eyes filled with tears.
  2. to increase in atmospheric pressure: a filling cyclone.
  3. to become distended, as sails with the wind.
  4. (of a sailing vessel) to proceed on a tack after being hove to or halted facing the wind; fill away.
    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.
  5. Fill in the facts of your business experience.
    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.
  6. The children have begun to fill out since I saw them last.
    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.
  7. See (def. 12).
  8. to fill up a glass; to fill up a fuel tank.
    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.
—n.
  1. a full supply; enough to satisfy want or desire: to eat one's fill.
  2. an amount of something sufficient for filling; charge.
  3. a quantity of earth, stones, etc., for building up the level of an area of ground:Cf. backfill. These houses were built on fill.
  4. the feed and water in the digestive tract of a livestock animal, esp. that consumed before marketing.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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