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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

filler en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˈfɪlɚ/ (Canadian, General-American, Standard)
  • /ˈfɪləː/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós Proto-Germanic *fullaz Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Germanic *-ijaną Proto-Germanic *fullijaną Proto-West Germanic *fullijan Old English fyllan Middle English fillen English fill Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English filler From fill + -er.

Meanings

  1. One who fills.
    • They commonly have three, four, five, or six hewers or diggers, to four fillers, so as to keep the fillers always at work. 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC:
  2. Something added to fill a space or add weight or size.
    • I recommend this album in the face of the fact that five of the eleven songs are the purest filler, dull instrumentals with a harmonica rifling over an indifferent rhythm section. The rest is magnificent[…] 1977, Stereo Review, volume 38, page 70:
  3. Any semisolid substance used to fill gaps, cracks or pores.
  4. (qualifier:cosmetic surgery) A dermal filler, a substance injected beneath the skin to restore lost volume.
    • A 50-year-old patient will come in, and suddenly, she’s super-skinny and needs filler, which she never needed before. 2023 January 24, Amy Synnott, quoting Dr. Frank, “Those Weight Loss Drugs May Do a Number on Your Face”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 Jan 2023:
  5. A relatively inert ingredient added to modify physical characteristics; a bulking agent.
    • The word "filler" is taboo in the excipient world. 2014 April, Ken Seufert, “The New Dawn of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: Innovative Solutions for Unprecedented Challenges”, in American Pharmaceutical Review, 17(3):9:
  6. A short article in a newspaper or magazine.
  7. A short piece of music or an announcement between radio or TV programmes.
  8. Any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause.
    • As the years go by, speech reverts to childhood levels of disfluency, with more pauses, more errors, more repeated words, but even the peak years are not great: up to 8 percent of the average person’s word output consists of meaningless fillers and placeholders like um, uh and er. 2007 August 24, William Grimes, “Uh, Lead My Rips: No More Bloopers”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2013:
    • 'Tis a meer filler; to ſtop a vacancy in the Hexameter, and connect the Preface to the Work of Virgil. 1697, Virgil, “Dedication”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
  9. Cut tobacco used to make up the body of a cigar.
  10. In COBOL, the description of an unnamed part of a record that contains no data relevant to a given context (normally capitalised when in a data division).
  11. A plant that lacks a distinctive shape and can fill inconvenient spaces around other plants in pots or gardens.
  12. (plural-normally) Any standing tree or standard higher than the surrounding coppice in the form of forest known as "coppice under standards".
  13. A material of lower cost or quality that is used to fill a certain television time slot or physical medium, such as a music album.
    • With the exception of her movie soundtracks — Lady Sings the Blues, and its flashy renditions of Billie Holiday standards, and the much less interesting Mahogany — Ross' early-'70s albums mixed predictably strong hits and an overabundance of filler. 2004, Christian David Hoard, Nathan Brackett (editors), The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, page 704:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
fillers Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

filler-upper · filler episode · filler phrase · shelf filler · postfiller · prefiller · stocking filler · spacefiller · nanofiller · field filler · filler cap · filler word · seat filler · floor-filler

Translations (31)

de Füllwort (any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause) · bg пълнеж (something added to fill a space) · ja フィラー (any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause) · uk напо́внювач (something added to fill a space) · pt preenchimento (a relatively inert ingredient added to modify physical characteristics) · es latiguillo (any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause) · es estribillo (any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause) · sk výplň (something added to fill a space) · gl rebo (something added to fill a space) · ru наполнитель (something added to fill a space) · pl wypełniacz (something added to fill a space) · hu töltelékszó (any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause) · uk слово-паразит (any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause) · pl zapchajdziura (something added to fill a space) · sk vata (something added to fill a space) · de Füllmasse (substance used to fill gaps, cracks, pores) · sk vypchávka (something added to fill a space) · is hikorð (any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause) · bg пълнител (a relatively inert ingredient added to modify physical characteristics) · cy llenwad (something added to fill a space) · es muletilla (any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause) · el σφράγισμα (a relatively inert ingredient added to modify physical characteristics) · ja フィラー (something added to fill a space) · pl substancja pomocnicza (a relatively inert ingredient added to modify physical characteristics) · es bordón (any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause) · es cantaleta (any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause) · fr filler (something added to fill a space) · es bordoncillo (any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause) · de Spachtelmasse (substance used to fill gaps, cracks, pores) · ru слово-паразит (any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause) · nl stopwoord (any spoken sound or word used to fill gaps in speech; filled pause)