- Home
- Idioms
- filling
filling
fill in the blank
1. To provide information or details, usually by actually writing something in a blank space on a test, form, etc. Fill in the blank with what you think is the correct answer.
2. To figure something out; to determine an answer to something that was previously unknown. My parents may not know who dented the car now, but they'll fill in the blank eventually.
fill in the details
To give information about a particular topic, sometimes by actually writing it in the blank space on a form. Please fill in the details about your medical history on this form. Who are you dating? Come on, fill in the details for me!
back and fill
1. To move a ship's sails in an alternating fashion to accommodate the wind in a narrow channel. We need to back and fill the sails in order to pass through this channel.
2. To be indecisive. You need to make a decision and stick to it—quit backing and filling!
back and fill
Fig. to act indecisively; to change one's direction repeatedly; to reverse one's course. (Originally nautical, referring to trimming the sails so as to alternately fill them with wind and release the wind, in order to maneuver in a narrow space.) The president spent most of his speech backing and filling on the question of taxation. The other candidate was backing and filling on every issue, depending on whom she was addressing.
backing and filling
(American) continuously changing or delaying a decision After much backing and filling she finally agreed to hand over the company's books.
back and fill
Vacillate, be undecided, as in This measure will never be passed if the town meeting continues to back and fill. This term comes from sailing ships, where it signifies alternately backing and filling the sails, a method used when the wind is running against a ship in a narrow channel. The sail is hauled back against the wind and braced so that the tide or current carries the ship forward against the wind. Then the sail must be swung around and filled, to keep the ship on course. The term's figurative use for indecisiveness dates from the mid-1800s.
filling station
n. a liquor store. (From an old name for an automobile service station.) Please stop at the filling station and get some suds on your way home.
back and fill
1. Nautical To maneuver a vessel in a narrow channel by adjusting the sails so as to let the wind in and out of them in alteration.
2. To vacillate in one's actions or decisions.