A strip of pleated fabric or paper used as decoration or trim.
1777, Samuel Jackson Pratt (as Courtney Melmoth), Liberal Opinions, upon Animals, Man, and Providence, London: G. Robinson and J. Bew, Volume 5, Chapter 114, p. 163, […] one of her husband Jeffery’s shirts (with frills to the bosom) […]
His face had fallen in, and was unshorn; his frill and neckcloth hung limp under his bagging waistcoat.1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “In which Captain Dobbin Acts as the Messenger of Hymen”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 172:
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Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […] Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace, complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:
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Figuratively 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, Thomas Hardy, “Adventures by the Shore”, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 206:
She had noticed yesterday that a few tiny corkscrew tendrils had come right through some cracks in the scullery ceiling and all the windows of the lean-to had a thick frill of ruffled green.1918 June, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Prelude”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, chapter 6, pages 25–26:
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[T]he bright frills of the winter fungi on the blotched trunks of the trees;1979, Angela Carter, “The Company of Wolves”, in The Bloody Chamber, Penguin, published 1993:
‘Isn’t it a shame!’ Mrs Ayres said softly, now and then pausing to brush aside a frill of snow and examine the plant beneath […]2009, Sarah Waters, chapter 12, in The Little Stranger, London: Virago:
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Arts, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Photography A wrinkled edge to a film.
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Figuratively 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, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “A Matter of Æsthetics”, in The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book 3, page 381:
Every possible economy was carefully investigated and unnecessary expense, however small, eliminated. The company had no money to spare on "frills."1956 September, 'Precursor', “The Dursley & Midland Junction Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 599:
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Falling in love, I said. Falling into it, we all did then, one way or another. How could he have made such light of it? Sneered even. As if it was trivial for us, a frill, a whim.1985, Margaret Atwood, “Jezebel’s”, in The Handmaid’s Tale, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland and Stewart, →ISBN, part 12, page 237:
Torontonians clutter their brick and stone houses with too much trim, or with window trim and shutters—and they also carve their shutters with hearts or maple leaves—but the snow conceals these frills;1989, John Irving, chapter 2, in A Prayer for Owen Meany, Toronto: Vintage Canada, published 2009, page 91:
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Biology, Natural sciences, Zoology The relatively extensive margin seen on the back of the heads of reptiles, with either a bony support or a cartilaginous one.
A large admiral lizard leapt up on a rail, stood on hind legs with fore legs raised like hands and watched for a moment […], then loped down the cess-path with arms swinging and iridescent frill flying out like a cape […]1943, Xavier Herbert, chapter 14, in Capricornia, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton-Century, page 227:
She reminded Bojan of a desert lizard throwing up its frill to frighten predators.1997, Richard Flanagan, chapter 54, in The Sound of One Hand Clapping, New York: Grove Press:
To provide or decorate with a frill or frills; to turn back in crimped plaits.
And I will be bold to ſay my two girls have had a pretty good education, and capacity, [...] they underſtand their needle, breadſtitch, croſs and change, and all manner of plain-work; they can pink, point, and frill; [...]1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], “The Family Still Resolve to Hold Up Their Heads”, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume I, Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, page 107:
1863, Charles Dickens, Mrs. Lirriper’s Lodgings, Chapter 4, in All the Year Round, Volume 10, Extra Christmas Number, 3 December, 1863, p. 35, 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.
1688, Randle Holme, The Academy of Armory, Chester: for the author, Book 2, Chapter 13, “Of the Voices of Birds,” p. 310, The Eagle Frilleth, or Scriketh The Hawk, as Falcon, Gawshawk, and all such Birds of Prey, cryeth, peepeth, or frilleth.