Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An edible flatfish (Bothas rhombus) of European waters.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A flatfish, Bothus or Rhombus lavis, of the family Pleuronectidæ. In its general form it resembles the turbot, but is inferior to it in both size and quality. It has scales, but very small ones, and the dorsal and anal fins have more numerous rays than those of the turbot. It is taken on many of the coasts of Europe, the principal part of the supply for the London market being from the southern coast of England, where it is abundant.
- n. A small and very bony flounder of New Zealand, Caulopsetta scaphus, of the family Pleuronectidæ. The name was transferred from the true brill of Europe.
Wiktionary
- n. A type of flatfish, Scophthalmus rhombus.
- adj. UK, slang Wonderful, clever, amusing. Denotes approval of the noun it is applied to, comparable to "cool".
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) A fish allied to the turbot (Rhombus levis), much esteemed in England for food; -- called also
bret ,pearl ,prill . See bret.
WordNet 3.0
- n. European food fish
Etymologies
- Abbreviation of brilliant. (Wiktionary)
- Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I also bought some brill which is a lovely fish (similar to Dover sole) and really underrated.”
“# Arrowon 24 Mar 2009 at 10: 59 pm brill! thank god she was saved from the wretched fate of poetry. yay Ada, our very first cybergrrl.”
“So brill, in fact, we missed our last train back to Helsinki and had no choice but to bus it.”
Adventures of a Couch-Hopping Scribbler Part 3: Hail, Helsinki!
“You think that's brill, wait until you see what else it can do.”
“Other dishes were very good: brill with a broth of onions, clams and borlotti beans; roast baby chicken with spicy potatoes; and a lovely, not too sweet white chocolate and hazelnut semifreddo served with cocoa sauce.”
“Not so brill Down Under, mind you. on May 4, 2010 at 2: 24 pm matt”
“Yes, its messages about the “truth” of the period can be underwhelming, but then again most TV shows are less than brill in the insight department – and I include the much-vaunted Sopranos in that list, which had me shouting, “Oh puh-leeeze!” every time I watched it.”
All the mad men and all the mad women can't tell a joke to save their lives
“Or that a meaty fish like brill works well with a veal jus, so why not obtain that burst of umami from Marmite?”
The Guardian: Jay Rayner on the joy of mixing unexpected flavours
“But like everything the Beatles touched it turned to gold eventually – Steven Spielberg told Macca it was a major influence at his film school – and obviously, the soundtrack featuring I Am The Walrus and The Fool on the Hill is palpably brill.”
“I can, for example, go to the marvellous restaurant of Sat Bains in Nottingham, where he promises a dish of salmon with passion fruit or wild brill with Marmite.”
The Guardian: Jay Rayner on the joy of mixing unexpected flavours
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘brill’.
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fish list
lots and lots of fish, a piscatorial
wetdreamablet, agnathan, ahi, ahuru, ahuruhuru, albacore, albicore, alec, alewife, allice, allis, amberjack and 840 more...
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UK - slang
chin wag, arse about, bollock, starkers, sweet Fanny Adams, skive, shufti, codswallop, rhyming slang, bollocks, nookie, skew-whiff and 208 more...
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PECH - marine species
African cuttlefish, Alaska plaice, Alaska pollock, Alaska pollack, walleye pollock, alewife, gaspereau, river herring, sawbelly, allis shad, American angler, goosefish and 994 more...
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britishisms
A tip of my hat to the snarkiest of English dialects. Here here!
Ponce, snog, bloody, barmy, blasted, blooming, bleeding, knackered, poppycock, wanker, tosser, cracked and 52 more...
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British words
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London Underground Stations
Tagged with which London Underground line it is part of. Some are permanently closed and tagged as such. Some are open but have closed portions and are tagged "closed platforms."
Some ...woodside park, woodford, wood green, wimbledon park, wimbledon, willesden junction, willesden green, whitechapel, white city, westminster, west ferry, westbourne park and 326 more...
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.fauna
bruin, chrysalis, reynard, loris, pickerel, grayling, otter, ridley, gibbon, cricket, pachyderm, brill and 6 more...
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Beyond Fair To Middling
words or expressions which, when used with and in the sense of "it's _____" or "it's a _____" mean simply good. Or better :-)
balltearer, beauty, ripper, all good, going swimmingly, snorter, ripsnorter, cracker, belter, corker, jaffa, nifty and 44 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for brill.
thestephy brill is also used as a short form for the word "brilliant". I first heard it used in 1982, by Larry M. West, of Chicago, Illinois Jun 14, 2009