For forms see the vb. Also 4 folle, south. volle. [OE. fyllo, fyllu fem. = OHG. fulli fem. (MHG. vülle, Ger. fülle fem.), ON. fyllr (fylli) fem. (Da. fylde masc. and fem., Sw. fylle neut.), Goth. (ufar)fullei:—OTeut. *fullîn-, n. of state f. *fullo- FULL a. But in Eng. the word has, from similarity of sound, always been associated with the vb. FILL. Senses 2–4 strictly belong to a distinct word, f. the vb.]
1. A full supply of drink or food; enough to satisfy want or desire. Since OE. only in to drink, eat, have, take, etc. one’s fill. Const. of; also in apposition to obj.
Beowulf, 562 (Gr.). Næs hie ðære fylle ȝefean hæfdon.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., II. iv. § 8. Drinc nu ðine fylle.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 53. To eten hire fulle.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 485.
| Bute fret hire fille, | |
| and dareð siðen stille. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3535 (Cott.).
| Mette and drinc þou has to will, | |
| Bot lang es siþen I ete my fill. |
14[?]. Sir Beues (MS. M.), 2473.
| Than of that water he dranke his fyl | |
| And than lept out wyth gode wyl. |
1508. Fisher, Wks. (1876), 234. He was sore vexed with hunger, in so moche that he coude not haue his fyll of pesen and oke cornes, that before his face dayly the swyne dyde ete.
1549–62. Sternhold & H., Ps. civ. 259.
| And beastes of the mountaynes | |
| thereof drinke their fils. |
1611. Bible, Deut. xxiii. 24. When thou commest into thy neighbors Vineyard, then thou mayest eate grapes thy fill.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Pastorals, X. 112.
| From Juniper unwholsom Dews distill, | |
| That blast the sooty Corn; with with’ring Herbage kill; | |
| Away, my Goats, away: for you have brows’d your fill. |
1810. Scott, Lady of L., I. i.
| The Stag at eve had drunk his fill, | |
| Where danced the moon on Monan’s rill. |
1817. Shelley, Revolt of Islam, VII. xix.
| She spoke: ‘Yes, in the wilderness of years | |
| Her memory, aye, like a green home appears, | |
| She sucked her fill even at this breast, sweet love, | |
| For many months.’ |
transf. and fig. c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 51. Hie … hadden þe fulle of wurldes richeisse.
a. 1340. Cursor Mundi, 23547 (Trin.).
| Vche mon shal haue þe folle | |
| Of al þat he aftir wilne wolle. |
1551. Crowley, Pleas. & Pain, 615.
| Of blysse or of payne they shall haue theyr fyll— | |
| The good sorte in heauen, and in hell the ill. |
1611. Bible, Prov. vii. 18. Come, let vs take our fill of loue vntill the morning, let vs solace our selues with loues.
1653. Holcroft, Procopius, I. 6. Having had their fill of mourning, the Armenian bathed Arsaces, drest him, and put on him the Royall habit, and placed him upon a couch.
1775. Johnson, Lett. to Mrs. Thrale (1788), I. cxx. 259. The Doctor and Frank are gone to see the hay. It was cut on Saturday, and yesterday was well wetted; but to day has its fill of sunshine.
1821. Shelley, Adonais, vii.
| Awake him not! surely he takes his fill | |
| Of deep and liquid rest, forgetful of all ill. |
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., Introductory (1889), 1. For the first time in his life he was having his fill of hunting and shooting.
b. Hence used with intransitive vbs. as an adverbial phrase: ‘to (his) heart’s content.’
c. 1300. Havelok, 954.
| Þe children that yeden in þe weie | |
| Of him he deden al her wille, | |
| And with him leykeden here fille. |
a. 1340. Cursor Mundi, 10475 (Trin.). Þere she myȝte sorwe hir fille.
c. 1400. Melayne, 213. They had foughten thaire fill.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. John xix. 113. That ye may looke your fyl upon hym.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, I. III. xliii.
| Then gan the joyfull birds to try their skills; | |
| They skipt, they chirpt amain, they pip’d, they danc’d their fills. |
1770. Gray, in Corr. N. Nicholls (1843), 107. Talk your fill to me and spare not.
1808. Scott, Marm., VI. xv.
| So swore I, and I swear it still, | |
| Let my boy-bishop fret his fill. |
1866. Mrs. Gaskell, Wives & Dau., xi. (1867), 119. She burst into a passion of tears, and cried her fill.
2. A quantity sufficient to fill a receptacle or empty space; a filling, charge. lit. and fig.
1555. Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden), 62. Payd for a fylle of tymber for the gratt in the churche yeard at … x. d.
1849. Grote, Greece, II. lxxiv. (1862), VI. 473. It imparted to her [Athens] a second fill of strength, dignity, and commercial importance, during the half century destined to elapse before she was finally overwhelmed by the superior military force of Macedon.
1881. Stevenson, Virgin. Puerisq., 102. If there is a fill of tobacco among the crew, for God’s sake pass it round, and let us have a pipe before we go!
1884. Eissler, Mod. High Explosives, 265. The earth and clay for the fill were obtained from Fruitvale, some seven miles distant from the mole; and here the most perfect system of blasting the earth was carried out.
b. An embankment to fill up a gully or hollow.
1884. Lisbon (Dakota) Star, 18 July. The fill will be 150 feet long.
1887. M. Roberts, The Western Avernus, 71. The work here was of a severe character, as they made a ‘fill’ or embankment eighty feet high, I should think, or possibly much more.
3. The action of filling (esp. a cup or glass). lit. and fig. rare.
a. 1732. T. Boston, in Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. lxxxi. p. 10. A fill proposed and offered to empty sinners.
a. 1810. Tannahill, Poems (1846), 68.
| I’ll treat you wi’ a Highland gill, | |
| Though it should be my hindmaist fill. |
4. † Of a river: The point at which its stream is filled, the head-waters; in quot. opposed to fall. Hence transf. in proverbial use, Neither fill nor fall: neither head nor tail, not a trace (dial.).
1622. Drayton, Poly-olb., xix. (1748), 333.
| Well furnisht with a Streame, that from the fill to fall, | |
| Wants nothing that a Flood should be adorn’d withall. |
1887. Kent Gloss. s.v. ‘My old dog went off last Monday, and I can’t hear neither fill-nor-fall of him.’
