frill
/fɹɪl/ noun, verb
Forms frills frilling frilled
- noun A strip of pleated fabric or paper used as decoration or trim.
- noun (figurative) A substance or material on the edge of something, resembling such a strip of fabric.
- noun (photography) A wrinkled edge to a film.
- noun (figurative) Something extraneous or not essential; something purely for show or effect; a luxury.
- noun (zoology) The relatively extensive margin seen on the back of the heads of reptiles, with either a bony support or a cartilaginous one.
- noun (mycology) Synonym of armilla.
- verb (transitive) To make into a frill.
- verb (intransitive) To become wrinkled.
- verb (transitive) To provide or decorate with a frill or frills; to turn back in crimped plaits.
- verb (intransitive, obsolete, falconry) To shake or shiver as with cold (with reference to a hawk).
- verb (intransitive, obsolete, falconry) To cry (with reference to a bird of prey).
Synonyms
flounce furbelow ruffle neck frill armilla ruff folderal falderol gimcrackery gimcrack nonsense trumpery
Etymology
Of uncertain origin.
From Old French friller.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To shake or shiver as with cold; as, the hawk frills. Johnson.
- verb To wrinkle; --said of the gelatin film.
- verb To provide or decorate with a frill or frills; to turn back. in crimped plaits; as, to frill a cap.
- noun A border or edging secured at one edge and left free at the other, usually fluted or crimped like a very narrow flounce.
Etymology [OF. friller, fr. L. frigidulus somewhat cold, dim. of frigidus cold; akin to F. frileux chilly.]
Etymology [See Frill, v. i.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “frill”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details