Fill Meaning
/fɪl/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo make full
verbTo make full, To add contents to (a container, cavity, or the like) so that it is full.
Sentence Examples
I'll find someone to fill in for you.
Fill in the blanks.
Please fill this glass for me.
CEFR Practice Quiz
You need to ____ the water bottle before we start our long hike.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Could you please ____ my water bottle? I need to stay hydrated during our long afternoon hike.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English fillen, fullen, from Old English fyllan (“to fill, fill up, replenish, satisfy; complete, fulfill”), from Proto-West Germanic *fullijan, 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”), Low German füllen (“to fill”), Dutch vullen (“to fill”), German füllen (“to fill”), Danish fylde (“to fill”), Swedish fylla (“to fill”), Norwegian fylle (“to fill”), Icelandic fylla (“to fill”) and Latin plenus (“full”)
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter III, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
"She continued to frown as she filled Bony's cup and added brandy to her own."
— 1950, Arthur W. Upfield, chapter 11, in The Bachelors of Broken Hill:
"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."
— 2005, Wendy Coakley-Thompson, What You Won't Do for Love, published 2006, →ISBN, page 10:
"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.""
— 2006, Gilbert Morris, Sante Fe Woman, B&H, page 95:
"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.'"
— 2004, Peter Westen, The Logic of Consent, Ashgate, →ISBN, page 322:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
You need to ____ the water bottle before we start our long hike.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Could you please ____ my water bottle? I need to stay hydrated during our long afternoon hike.