Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To put something into (a container, for example) to capacity or to a desired level.
  • intransitive verb To supply or provide to the fullest extent.
  • intransitive verb To build up the level of (low-lying land) with material such as earth or gravel.
  • intransitive verb To stop or plug up (an opening, for example).
  • intransitive verb To repair a cavity of (a tooth).
  • intransitive verb To add a foreign substance to (cloth or wood, for example).
  • intransitive verb To flow or move into (a container or area), often to capacity.
  • intransitive verb To pervade.
  • intransitive verb To satiate, as with food and drink.
  • intransitive verb To engage or occupy completely.
  • intransitive verb To satisfy or meet; fulfill: synonym: satisfy.
  • intransitive verb To supply what is specified by or required for.
  • intransitive verb To put a person into (a job or position).
  • intransitive verb To discharge the duties of; occupy.
  • intransitive verb To cover the surface of (an inexpensive metal) with a layer of precious metal, such as gold.
  • intransitive verb To cause (a sail) to swell.
  • intransitive verb To adjust (a yard) so that wind will cause a sail to swell.
  • intransitive verb To become full.
  • noun An amount needed to make full, complete, or satisfied.
  • noun Material for filling a container, cavity, or passage.
  • noun A built-up piece of land; an embankment.
  • noun The material, such as earth or gravel, used for this.
  • idiom (fill (someone's) shoes) To assume someone's position or duties.
  • idiom (fill the bill) To serve a particular purpose.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A full supply; enough to satisfy want or desire; as much as gives complete satisfaction.
  • noun An amount of something sufficient for filling; a charge.
  • An obsolete variant of fell.
  • An obsolete preterit of fall.
  • noun A shaft; a thill.
  • noun A dialectal variant of field.
  • noun Thyme.
  • In poker, to draw cards which improve the hand: usually restricted to filling four-card flushes or straights.
  • To execute: as. to fill an order for goods.
  • To make up: as, to fill a prescription.
  • noun In engineering: An embankment of earth or rock made as a road-bed: the opposite of cut.
  • noun The vertical height of the top of an embankment above the natural surface at any point.
  • noun Deposition alternating with or in contrast to scouring out. The contrasting terms are scour and fill, cut and fill.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English fillen, from Old English fyllan; see pelə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English fillen, fullen, from Old English fyllan ("to fill, fill up, replenish, satisfy; complete, fulfill"), from Proto-Germanic *fullijanan (“to make full, fill”), 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").

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