[a. Fr. cheville, in many technical senses, e.g., pin, plug (in carpentry), etc., and thence in the sense of word inserted to plug up a vacant place in a sentence.]
1. A meaningless or redundant word or phrase inserted to round off a sentence or complete a verse.
1883. G. A. Simcox, Latin Lit., II. V. v. 77. One finds the chevilles at the end of the line in the ‘Æneid.’
1885. Contemp. Rev., April, 551. Cheville … is any meaningless or very watered phrase employed to strike a balance in the sound.
2. ‘The peg of a violin or similar stringed instrument’ (Stainer and Barrett, 1878).
