fillet

plural fillets · alternative US filet

1. archaicA headband; a ribbon or other band used to tie the hair up, or keep a headdress in place, or for decoration.

   A fillet binds her hair.

   1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC

   3 more examples

   In secret shadow, farre from all mens sight: From her faire head her fillet she undight, And laid her stole aside.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

   "Know thy own worth, and reverence the lyre," is a line that should be as a fillet bound round the brow—a philactory embroidered on the garments of every son and daughter of Adam distinguished by the possession of that sacred gift, which, whether used or abused, applauded in itself or derided in its possessor, is the highest and the most inalienable distinction humanity ever has or ever can be gifted with, whether bestowed on the highest or the humblest being, in the great mass to which we all belong.

   1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 252

   She was talking of Raymond Duncan, a walking absurdity who dressed in an ancient handwoven Greek costume and wore his hair in long braids reaching to his waist, adding, on ceremonial occasions, a fillet of bay-leaves.

   1970, John Glassco, Memoirs of Montparnasse, Mew York, published 2007, page 42

2. A thin strip of any material, in various technical uses.
3. businessA heavy bead of waterproofing compound or sealant material generally installed at the point where vertical and horizontal surfaces meet.
4. CADA rounded relief or cut at an edge, especially an inside edge, added for a finished appearance and to break sharp edges.
5. A strip or compact piece of meat or fish from which any bones and skin and feathers have been removed.

   Fillet of a Fenny Snake, / In the Cauldron boyle and bake:

   c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 143, column 2

6. UKA premium cut of meat, especially beef, taken from below the lower back of the animal, considered to be lean and tender; also called tenderloin.

   fillet steak

   Synonyms: filet

7. architectureA thin featureless moulding/molding used as separation between broader decorative mouldings.
8. architectureThe space between two flutings in a shaft.
9. governmentAn ordinary equal in breadth to one quarter of the chief, to the lowest portion of which it corresponds in position.
10. The thread of a screw.
11. A colored or gilded border.

    Fairer than gods and naked as the moon, The foamy fillets at their ankles strewn Less marble-white than they

    1911, George Sterling, The Swimmers

12. The raised moulding around the muzzle of a gun.
13. artsAny scantling smaller than a batten.
14. anatomyA fascia; a band of fibres; applied especially to certain bands of white matter in the brain.
15. The loins of a horse, beginning at the place where the hinder part of the saddle rests.

present singular third person fillets · participle present filleting · participle past filleted · past filleted · alternative US filet

1. transitiveTo slice, bone or make into fillets.

   Synonyms: bone, debone

2. transitiveTo apply, create, or specify a rounded or filled corner to.