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frill (frĭl)
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n.
1. A ruffled, gathered, or pleated border or projection, such as a fabric edge used to trim clothing.
2. A projection as of hair, feathers, bone, or cartilage, about the neck of an animal.
3. A wrinkling of the edge of a photographic film.
4. Informal Something that is desirable but not a necessity; a luxury. See Synonyms at luxury.
v. frilled, frill·ing, frills
v.tr.
1. To make into a ruffle or frill.
2. To add a ruffle or frill to.
v.intr.
To become wrinkled along the edge.

[Origin unknown.]

frilli·ness n.
frilly adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.