Definition of "fill"

fill¹

/fɪl/

verb
third-person singular simple present fills, present participle filling, simple past and past participle filled
1. (transitive) To occupy fully, to take up all of.
  Quotations
  […] the drums began to thunder, the sound of trumpets filled the air, the earth trembled beneath their feet, and the hearts of the gazing multitude throbbed with suspense and expectation […]
  c. 1761, Tobias Smollett, transl., Don Quixote, part 2, book 5, chapter 4
  And now that I have given the one chapter to the theme that so filled my heart, and so often made it ache and ache again, I pass on, unhindered, to the event that had impended over me longer yet […] .
  1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XXXVIII, in Great Expectations […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861
2. (transitive) To add contents to (a container, cavity, or the like) so that it is full.
  Quotations
  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. Lincoln, chapter 3, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
  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, 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
3. To enter (something), making it full.
  Quotations
  In the evening of the 14th of July, there was a rainfall of 3 or 3½ inches in that locality. The water filled the ditch so full that it overflowed the levees on both sides in many places […] .
  1910 May 13, John C. Sherwin, opinion, Delashmutt et al. v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. et al., reprinted in volume 126, North Western Reporter, page 359, at 360
  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, page 322
4. (intransitive) To become full.
5. (intransitive) To become pervaded with something.
6. (transitive) To satisfy or obey (an order, request, or requirement).
7. (transitive) To install someone, or be installed, in (a position or office), eliminating a vacancy.
  Quotations
  The board of supervisors called a specal[sic] election to fill the office, and at such special election Henry C. Andrews was elected judge of probate to fill out the said term.
  1891 January 23, Allen Morse, opinion, Lawrence v. Hanley, reprinted in volume 47, Northwestern Reporter, page 753, at 755
8. (transitive) To treat (a tooth) by adding a dental filling to it.
  Quotations
  Be that as it may, had the disturbance continued after our having filled the molar, and presuming that nothing had been done to the bicuspid, we might have been still as far as ever from knowing where the trouble lay.
  a. 1891, "Intimate Diagnosis of Diseased Teeth", in Items of Interest: A Monthly Magazine of Dental Art, Science and Literature, volume 13, number 11, November 1891, page 657
9. (transitive) To fill or supply fully with food; to feed; to satisfy.
  Quotations
  Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Matthew 15:33
  Things that are sweet and fat are more filling.
  1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […]
10. (transitive, nautical) To trim (a yard) so that the wind blows on the after side of the sails.
11. (transitive, slang, vulgar, of a male) To have sexual intercourse with (a female).

fill²

/fɪl/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural fills
1. (after a possessive) A sufficient or more than sufficient amount.
  Quotations
  Then they set somewhat of food before me, whereof I ate my fill, and gave me somewhat of clothes wherewith I clad myself anew and covered my nakedness; after which they took me up into the ship, […]
  1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night
2. An amount that fills a container.
3. The filling of a container or area.
4. Inexpensive material used to occupy empty spaces, especially in construction.
  Quotations
  Strippage from a borrow area was first treated as waste, under the contract, but after passage of time was suitable for fill and was so used.
  1946, Digest of the Decisions of the Corps of Engineers Board of Contract Appeals, page 101
5. (archaeology) Soil and/or human-created debris discovered within a cavity or cut in the layers and exposed by excavation; fill soil.
6. An embankment, as in railroad construction, to fill a hollow or ravine; also, the place which is to be filled.
7. (music) A short passage, riff, or rhythmic sound that helps to keep the listener's attention during a break between the phrases of a melody.
  Quotations
  The second part of recomposed Embroidering Golden Banner achieves the brightness and cheerfulness of music, and presents a cheerful passion through sanda playing methods such as left-hind octave fills, right-hand echo decoration, and encircled decoration.
  2015, Dawei Zheng, Control, Mechatronics and Automation Technology

fill³

/fɪl/

noun
plural fills
1. One of the thills or shafts of a carriage.
  Quotations
  It was a challenge to learn to harness him, guide him slowly back between the fills of the carriage, then to fasten the right buckles and snaps, making the harness and buggy all ready for travel to church or to town.
  2008, Martha E. Green, Pioneers in Pith Helmets

Definition of "fill"

fill1

verb

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fill2

noun

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fill3

noun

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fill¹

fill²

fill³