Meanings
- uncountableA row or rows of frills.
Never did chisel define ermine so delicately as on this marble; and the lace scarf and frill-work is like lace itself.
1854, John Overton Choules, chapter 12, in The Cruise of the Steam Yacht North Star, Boston: Gould and Lincoln, page 1821 more example
[…] as time stole on, many little packets of absurdly small white garments with frill work and ribbons began to arrive among the big consignments of male necessities.
1894, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Curse of Eve”, in Round the Red Lamp, London: Methuen, page 91 - uncountablearchitectureOrnamentation on a building or other structure resembling a row of frills.
The massive surrounding walls, built so as to take advantage of natural rock formations, now towered above us, and the spiky frillwork along the top suggested that at one time it had been a Turkish fortress […]
1972, Joan Aiken, chapter 3, in A Cluster of Separate Sparks, Boston: G.K. Hall, published 19921 more example
1877, E. C. Hussey, Home Building, New York: Leader & Van Hoesen, Plate No. 14, Its exterior form and ornamentation is of the Swiss style, although the stories are higher than are generally used in Swiss buildings. The almost excessive frill work gives it a very pretty, although a rather tawdry appearance.
Origin
Cite this entry
frillwork. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frillwork
“frillwork.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frillwork. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “frillwork,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frillwork.
Source: frillwork on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.