See also: Full, full-, fúll, and -full

English edit

Pronunciation edit

  • enPR: fo͝ol, IPA(key): /fʊl/, [fʊɫ]
  • (file)
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ʊl

Etymology 1 edit

From Middle English ful, from Old English full (full), from Proto-West Germanic *full, from Proto-Germanic *fullaz (full), from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós (full).

Germanic cognates include West Frisian fol, Low German vull, Dutch vol, German voll, Danish fuld, and Norwegian and Swedish full (the latter three via Old Norse). Proto-Indo-European cognates include English plenty (via Latin, compare plēnus), Welsh llawn, Russian по́лный (pólnyj), Lithuanian pilnas, Persian پر (por), Sanskrit पूर्ण (pūrṇa).

See also fele and Scots fou. For the "drunk, intoxicated" sense, compare also Swedish full and other Scandinavian languages.

Adjective edit

full (comparative fuller or more full, superlative fullest or most full)

  1. Containing the maximum possible amount that can fit in the space available.
    The jugs were full to the point of overflowing.
  2. Complete; with nothing omitted.
    • 1976 March 27, F. Dudley Hart, “History of the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis”, in British Medical Journal, volume 1, number 6012, →DOI, →JSTOR, page 763:
      Anybody can cure a curable disease if he happens to have the right drug at hand, but the treatment of a condition for which there is no positive cure makes much greater demands on the doctor, who has to be practical pharmacologist, human being, psychiatrist, and father confessor—he has, in fact, to be a proper physician in the fullest sense of the word.
    • 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:
      Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. [] A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.
    Our book gives full treatment to the subject of angling.
  3. Total, entire.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.
    She had tattoos the full length of her arms.   He was prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
  4. Completely empowered, authorized or qualified (in some role); not limited.
    full member
    full officer
  5. (informal) Having eaten to satisfaction, having a "full" stomach; replete.
    "I'm full," he said, pushing back from the table.
  6. (informal, with "of") Replete, abounding with.
    This movie doesn't make sense; it's full of plot holes.
    I prefer my pizzas full of toppings.
  7. (informal, of hands, chiefly in the plural) Carrying as much as possible.
    Hang on - my hands are full; just let me put these down.
  8. (of physical features) Plump, round.
    full lips; a full face; a full figure
  9. (of the moon) Having its entire face illuminated.
    • 1969, Alan S. Feinstein, Folk tales from Siam, page 82:
      For on those evenings, when the moon is full and bright and clear, mothers and fathers in Siam tell their children to look up at the moon and then ask them what they see there.
  10. (of garments) Of a size that is ample, wide, or having ample folds or pleats to be comfortable.
    a full pleated skirt; She needed her full clothing during her pregnancy.
  11. Having depth and body; rich.
    a full singing voice
  12. (obsolete) Having the mind filled with ideas; stocked with knowledge; stored with information.
  13. Having the attention, thoughts, etc., absorbed in any matter, and the feelings more or less excited by it.
    She's full of her latest project.
  14. Filled with emotions.
    • 1848, James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfal:
      The heart is so full that a drop overfills it.
  15. (obsolete) Impregnated; made pregnant.
    • 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. [], London: [] Jacob Tonson, [], →OCLC:
      Ilia, the fair, [] full of Mars.
  16. (poker, postnominal) Said of the three cards of the same rank in a full house.
    nines full of aces (three nines and two aces)
    I'll beat him with my kings full! (three kings and two unspecified cards of the same rank)
  17. (chiefly Australia) Drunk, intoxicated.
    • 1925, United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee No. 1, Charges Against William E. Baker, U.S. District Judge:
      Mr. Coniff: That is the only evidence you gave of his being intoxicated, that his hat was on the side? [] Mr. Coniff: That is the only indication you gave the committee when you were asked if the judge was full, that his hat was on the side of his head; is that right?
Synonyms edit
Antonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
  • Gulf Arabic: فُل (ful)
  • Japanese: フル
Translations edit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Adverb edit

full (not comparable)

  1. (archaic) Fully; quite; very; thoroughly; completely; exactly; entirely.
    • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
      Prospero:
      I have done nothing but in care of thee,
      Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter, who
      Art ignorant of what thou art; naught knowing
      Of whence I am, nor that I am more better
      Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,
      And thy no greater father.
    • 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. [], London: [] Jacob Tonson, [], →OCLC:
      [] full in the centre of the sacred wood
    • 1819, John Keats, Otho the Great, act IV, scene I, verse 112:
      You know full well what makes me look so pale.
    • 1880, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, William Blake, lines 9–12:
      This cupboard []
      this other one,
      His true wife's charge, full oft to their abode
      Yielded for daily bread the martyr's stone,
    • 1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night, section IX:
      It is full strange to him who hears and feels,
      When wandering there in some deserted street,
      The booming and the jar of ponderous wheels, []
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
      I turned my head, and as I lay gasping in the throes of that awful struggle I could see that Leo was off the rock now, for the lamplight fell full upon him.
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. [] She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, [].
Derived terms edit

Etymology 2 edit

From Middle English fulle, fylle, fille, from Old English fyllu, fyllo (fullness, fill, plenty), from Proto-Germanic *fullį̄, *fulnō (fullness, filling, overflow), from Proto-Indo-European *plūno-, *plno- (full), from *pelh₁-, *pleh₁- (to fill; full). Cognate with German Fülle (fullness, fill), Icelandic fylli (fulness, fill). More at fill.

Noun edit

full (plural fulls)

  1. Utmost measure or extent; highest state or degree; the state, position, or moment of fullness; fill.
    I was fed to the full.
    • 1911, Berthold Auerbach, Bayard Taylor, The villa on the Rhine:
      [] he had tasted their food, and found it so palatable that he had eaten his full before he knew it.
    • 2008, Jay Cassell, The Gigantic Book Of Hunting Stories:
      Early next morning we were over at the elk carcass, and, as we expected, found that the bear had eaten his full at it during the night.
    • 2010, C. E. Morgan, All the Living: A Novel:
      When he had eaten his full, they set to work again.
  2. (of the moon) The phase of the moon when its entire face is illuminated, full moon.
    • a. 1622, Francis Bacon, Natural History, in The works of Francis Bacon, 1765, page 322
      It is like, that the brain of man waxeth moister and fuller upon the full of the moon: [...]
    • a. 1656, Joseph Hall, Josiah Pratt (editor), Works, Volume VII: Practical Works, Revised edition, 1808 page 219,
      This earthly moon, the Church, hath her fulls and wanings, and sometimes her eclipses, while the shadow of this sinful mass hides her beauty from the world.
  3. (freestyle skiing) An aerialist maneuver consisting of a backflip in conjunction and simultaneous with a complete twist.
Derived terms edit

(freestyle skiing):

Translations edit

Verb edit

full (third-person singular simple present fulls, present participle fulling, simple past and past participle fulled)

  1. (of the moon) To become full or wholly illuminated.
    • 1888 September 20, “The Harvest Moon”, in New York Times, retrieved 10 April 2013:
      The September moon fulls on the 20th at 24 minutes past midnight, and is called the harvest moon.
    • 1905, Annie Fellows Johnston, chapter 4, in The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation:
      "By the black cave of Atropos, when the moon fulls, keep thy tryst!"
    • 1918, Kate Douglas Wiggin, chapter 29, in The Story Of Waitstill Baxter:
      "The moon fulls to-night, don't it?"

Etymology 3 edit

From Middle English fullen (to baptise), fulwen, from Old English fullian, fulwian (to baptise), from full- + *wīhan (later *wēon). Compare Old English fulluht, fulwiht (baptism).

Verb edit

full (third-person singular simple present fulls, present participle fulling, simple past and past participle fulled)

  1. (transitive) To baptise.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

Etymology 4 edit

From Middle English fullen (to full), from Middle French fouler, from Old French foler, fouler (to tread, to stamp, to full), from Medieval Latin fullare, from Latin fullo (a fuller).

Verb edit

full (third-person singular simple present fulls, present participle fulling, simple past and past participle fulled)

  1. To make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating and pressing; to waulk or walk.
    Synonyms: walk, waulk
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

Catalan edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Latin folium (leaf). Compare French feuille, Spanish hoja, Italian foglio, Italian foglia (the latter from Latin folia, plural of folium). Doublet of the borrowing foli.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

full m (plural fulls)

  1. sheet of paper

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

  • “full” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French edit

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

Borrowed from English full.

Adjective edit

full (plural fulls)

  1. (Quebec) full
  2. (Quebec) overflowing, packed, crowded

Adverb edit

full

  1. (Quebec) very, really
    C’est full poche, ça !That really sucks!

Etymology 2 edit

From English full house.

Noun edit

full m (plural fulls)

  1. (poker) full house

Further reading edit

Italian edit

Etymology edit

From English full house.

Noun edit

full m (invariable)

  1. (card games, poker) full house, boat

Middle English edit

Etymology 1 edit

Adjective edit

full

  1. Alternative form of ful

Etymology 2 edit

Verb edit

full

  1. Alternative form of fullen (to full)

Norwegian Bokmål edit

Etymology edit

From Danish fuld, from Old Norse fullr, from Proto-Germanic *fullaz, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós. Cognates include Swedish full, Norwegian Nynorsk full, Icelandic fullur, German voll, Dutch vol, English full, Gothic 𐍆𐌿𐌻𐌻𐍃 (fulls), Lithuanian pilnas, Old Church Slavonic плънъ (plŭnŭ), Latin plēnus, Ancient Greek πλήρης (plḗrēs) and πλέως (pléōs), Old Irish lán, and Sanskrit पूर्ण (pūrṇa).

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

full (neuter singular fullt, definite singular and plural fulle, comparative fullere, indefinite superlative fullest, definite superlative fulleste)

  1. full (containing the maximum possible amount)
  2. drunk

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

See also edit

References edit

Norwegian Nynorsk edit

Etymology edit

From Old Norse fullr, from Proto-Germanic *fullaz, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós. Cognates include Danish fuld, Swedish full, Icelandic fullur, German voll, Dutch vol, English full, Gothic 𐍆𐌿𐌻𐌻𐍃 (fulls), Lithuanian pilnas, Old Church Slavonic плънъ (plŭnŭ), Latin plēnus, Ancient Greek πλήρης (plḗrēs) and πλέως (pléōs), Old Irish lán, and Sanskrit पूर्ण (pūrṇa).

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

full (neuter singular fullt, definite singular and plural fulle, comparative fullare, indefinite superlative fullast, definite superlative fullaste)

  1. full (containing the maximum possible amount)
    Glaset er fullt.The glass is full.
  2. drunk
    Ho drakk seg full på raudvin.She got drunk on red wine.
  3. complete, total
    Han har full kontroll.He is in total control.

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Descendants edit

  • Russenorsk: fol

References edit

Old English edit

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Proto-West Germanic *full, from Proto-Germanic *fullaz, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós (full), from *pleh₁- (to fill).

Alternative forms edit

Adjective edit

full

  1. full, filled, complete, entire
Declension edit
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit

Etymology 2 edit

From Proto-Germanic *fullą (vessel), from Proto-Indo-European *pēl(w)- (a kind of vessel). Akin to Old Saxon full (beaker), Old Norse full (beaker, toast).

Alternative forms edit

Noun edit

full n

  1. a beaker
  2. a cup, especially one with liquor in it
Declension edit

Etymology 3 edit

Possibly from Proto-West Germanic *full

Adverb edit

ful

  1. very
    • late 10th century, Ælfric, "Saint Agnes, Virgin"
      ...and ful leof þam casere for his micclan sige þeah þe he nære gefullod .
      ...and very dear to the emperor for his great victory, though he was not baptized.

Old Norse edit

Adjective edit

full

  1. inflection of fullr:
    1. strong feminine nominative singular
    2. strong neuter nominative/accusative plural

Polish edit

Etymology edit

Unadapted borrowing from English full.

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

full (not comparable, no derived adverb)

  1. (colloquial) Alternative spelling of ful

Noun edit

full m inan

  1. (colloquial) Alternative spelling of ful

Declension edit

Numeral edit

full

  1. (colloquial) Alternative spelling of ful

Further reading edit

  • full in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • full in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish edit

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈful/ [ˈful]
  • Rhymes: -ul
  • Syllabification: full

Noun edit

full m (plural full)

  1. (poker) full house

Further reading edit

Swedish edit

Etymology edit

From Old Norse fullr, from Proto-Germanic *fullaz, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós.

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

full

  1. full (containing the maximum possible amount)
  2. drunk (intoxicated)

Declension edit

Inflection of full
Indefinite Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular full fullare fullast
Neuter singular fullt fullare fullast
Plural fulla fullare fullast
Masculine plural3 fulle fullare fullast
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 fulle fullare fullaste
All fulla fullare fullaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
3) Dated or archaic

Synonyms edit

Synonyms (colloquial or slang) edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

See also edit

References edit