frill /fɹɪl/noun 6verb 5forms 3 noun6 •A strip of pleated fabric or paper used as decoration or trim.[…] one of her husband Jeffery’s shirts (with frills to the bosom) […] — 1777 •A wrinkled edge to a film. •(figurative) A substance or material on the edge of something, resembling such a strip of fabric.Nothing moved in sky, land, or sea, except a frill of milkwhite foam along the nearer angles of the shore, shreds of which licked the contiguous stones like tongues. — 1874 •(figurative) Something extraneous or not essential; something purely for show or effect; a luxury.My name is Sammy Carleton. Not ‘Mr.’ Carleton, but just plain Sammy. I’m a regular no-nonsense man with no fancy frills about me. I want you to call me Sammy. — 1922 •The relatively extensive margin seen on the back of the heads of reptiles, with either a bony support or a cartilaginous one.She reminded Bojan of a desert lizard throwing up its frill to frighten predators. — 1997 •Synonym of armilla. verb5 •To provide or decorate with a frill or frills; to turn back in crimped plaits.Mrs. Sandham, formerly Kate Barford, is working at a baby’s frock, and asking now and then the advice of her sister, who is frilling a little cap. — 1863 •To make into a frill. •To become wrinkled. •(no longer used) To shake or shiver as with cold (with reference to a hawk). •(no longer used) To cry (with reference to a bird of prey).The Eagle Frilleth, or Scriketh The Hawk, as Falcon, Gawshawk, and all such Birds of Prey, cryeth, peepeth, or frilleth. — 1688 formsfrilled · frilling · frills
