fillip
English · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
fillip
- /ˈfɪlɪp/ US, UK
Where it comes from
From Middle English filippen, philippe (“to flick or snap a finger from against the thumb”); further origin uncertain, but probably imitative. See flip. It is not clear whether the verb is derived from the noun, or vice versa.
noun fillips
- The action of holding the tip of a finger against the thumb and then releasing it with a snap; a flick. And let him ſuppoſe, that if a Man in the beginning of the World, or four or five hundred Years ago, had laid a little round Marble upon a Table, and to put the ſame in Motion, had given it a Fillip with his Finger; the ſaid Marble, according to the abovemention'd Law of Nature, would (if no other F
- A sharp strike or tap made using this action, or (by extension) by other means. The blasphemy done to a mortal man is punished with the sword, and shall the blasphemy done to God escape think you with a fillip in the forehead, or with the knock of a little wooden betel, as it is begun to be punished in certain men's houses now of late? Nay, verily. It is no fillip matter except
- Something unimportant, a trifle; also, the brief time it takes to flick one's finger (see noun sense 1); a jiffy. Eat, drink and love; the rest's not worth a fillip.
- Something that excites or stimulates. This measure gave a fillip to the housing market.
verb fillips · filliping · fillipping · filliped · fillipped
- To strike, project, or propel with a fillip (that is, a finger released quickly after being pressed against the thumb); to flick. Mene[laus]. An odde man Lady, euery man is odde. / Creſ[ſida]. No Paris is not, for you know tis true, / That you are odde and he is euen with you. / Mene. You fillip me a'th head.
- To project quickly; to snap. Yet he obſerv'd how ſtill his Iron Balls / Recoyl'd in vain againſt our Oaken Walls. / How the hard Pellets fell away as dead, / By our inchanted Timber fillipped.
- To strike or tap smartly. [I]t was almost, if not quite as fine in Napoleon, hitting the Frenchmen between wind and water, filliping their chivalry on the one hand, by absolutely disbelieving that so many would go about to kill one man, and catching their admiration of courage on the other, by affecting to consider them as t
-
To drive as if by a fillip (noun sense 1); to excite, stimulate, whet.
The spicy aroma filliped my appetite.
Similar: inflame, animate, awaken, electrify, enflame, enkindle, enthrill, exagitate, excite, exhilarate, exsuscitate, fillip
- To make a fillip (noun sense 1) (with the fingers). As they were drinking after dinner, the prince jocosely dipped his finger in a glass of wine, and fillipped it into Oglethorpe's face.
Translations
Every language
noun action of holding the tip of a finger against the thumb and then releasing it with a snap
| Español | papirote |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | フィンガースナップ fingā sunappu, 指を弾く yubi o hajiku, 指パッチン yubi patchin |
| 中文 | 打響指 /打响指 dǎ xiǎngzhǐ |
| Português | peteleco, piparote |
| Français | chiquenaude, pichenette |
| Deutsch | Schnalzen |
| Italiano | schiocco, schioccare, schioccare le dita, scrocchio |
| Română | bobârnac |
| Русский | щелчо́к ščelčók, щёлк ščolk |
verb to strike or project with a fillip — see also flick
| Italiano | schioccare |
|---|---|
| Русский | щёлкнуть ščólknutʹ, щёлкать ščólkatʹ |
Talk about this word "fillip." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/fillip. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. fillip. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/fillip "fillip." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/fillip.Cite this
@misc{fillip_2026,
title = {fillip},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/fillip},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
