filigree

plural filigrees · alternative filagree · alternative archaic fillagree · alternative archaic filligree

1. countableuncountablejewelryA delicate and intricate ornamentation made from platinum, gold or silver (or sometimes other metal) twisted wire.

   To carry pure death in an earring, a casket, / A signet, a fan-mount, a filigree basket!

   1844, Robert Browning, The Labratory

   5 more examples

   There were antiquities from Central Italy, made by the best modern houses in that department of industry; […] Genoese velvets and filigree, Neapolitan coral, Roman cameos, Geneva jewellery, Arab lanterns, rosaries blest all round by the Pope himself, and an infinite variety of lumber.

   1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC

   […] the repose of the pool, the idle motions of the insects and flies upon it, the placid waving of the flags, the leaf-skeletons, like Genoese filigree, placidly sleeping at the bottom, by their contrast with her own turmoil made her impatience greater.

   1872 September – 1873 July, Thomas Hardy, A Pair of Blue Eyes. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1873, →OCLC

   Her brown hair was waved in front and done up behind in a great twist, held by a tortoiseshell comb with gold filigree.

   1915 October, Willa Sibert Cather, chapter I, in The Song of the Lark, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], →OCLC, part III (Stupid Faces), page 253

   She examined and appraised with much interest the diamond-tipped arrow which had been pinned on May's bosom at the conclusion of the match, remarking that in her day a filigree brooch would have been thought enough, but that there was no denying that Beaufort did things handsomely.

   1920, Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

   After that, having studied herself gravely in a long glass, she took from one of the drawers of her dressing-table a black leather card-case cornered in silver filigree, but found it empty.

   1921, Booth Tarkington, Alice Adams

2. broadlycountableuncountableAnything resembling such intricate ornamentation.

   Only the hair as it arched so beautifully from her temples was mixed with silver, and the two simple plaits that lay on her shoulders were filigree of silver and brown.

   1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC

   4 more examples

   But why speak about her? It is probable that we shall not hear of her again from this moment to the end of time, and that when the great filigree iron gates are once closed on her, she and her awful sister will never issue therefrom into this little world of history.

   1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 1, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC

   The trees grew so thickly and their foliage spread so widely that I could see nothing of the moon-light save that here and there the high branches made a tangled filigree against the starry sky.

   1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC

   His music is an unlikely mix, combining an openness and simplicity culled from folk traditions, harmonies that are haunting like Copland and triumphant like Brahms, ornaments and fillagrees that Schoenberg would have appreciated, and a treatment of lyrics that is Burkholder's own unique gift.

   1981 December 12, Scott Brookie, “Walking and Singing (Like a Man)”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 21, page 13

   Here it was the province of an electronic harpsichordlike timbre (presumably from a laptop) and an electric bass, played assertively by Zach Layton and supported by the drummer, David Justh. Mr. Justh added considerable filigree in the course of the 66-minute performance, none sanctioned by the score, but captivating enough to justify its berth.

   2007 December 1, Allan Kozinn, “That Same Old Beat, With Brand-New Choices”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 17 Jan 2018

present singular third person filigrees · participle present filigreeing · participle past filigreed · past filigreed · alternative filagree · alternative archaic fillagree · alternative archaic filligree

1. transitiveTo decorate something with intricate ornamentation made from gold or silver twisted wire.