fill out
/fɪl ˈaʊt/ verb
Forms fills out filling out filled out
- verb (transitive) To complete a form or questionnaire with requested information. “Please fill out this application if you are interested in the job.”
- verb (intransitive) To have one's physique expand with maturity or with surplus weight. “He began to fill out once he started college.”
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To fill up; to make full.
- verb Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see fill, out.
Synonyms
complete fill in populate make out round out eke out pad fatten fat flesh out plump plump out fatten out fatten up round
Etymology
In the sense of to complete a form, originally attested in American English; possibly as a calque of German ausfüllen. Later spread to British English, where it now competes with the traditional expression fill in.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “fill out”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details