(tr) to complete (a form, application, etc)
to make or become completely full
First recorded in 1850–55; noun use of verb phrase fill up
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A 15-gallon fill-up that ran $45 in 2023 can cost close to $70 or more.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
“In summary, a total of 440 miles were driven since the last fill-up on January 4, 2022,” he wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2024
Most of the gasoline was added recently, but the tank never runs completely dry and so a few molecules from the very first fill-up remain.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 1, 2023
If the gas savings were fully passed along to consumers, people would save just under $3 for a 15-gallon fill-up of gas.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 23, 2022
Fasters and cleansers should make at least three attempts at a complete fill-up each time they do an enema session.
From How and When to Be Your Own Doctor by Solomon, Steve
In theory the PM could delay its implementation - but the problem then is that this would mean the prison population would begin to head towards crisis point as cells fill up again.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
In some provinces, particularly parts of Siberia and North Caucasus, residents reported having to wait overnight or longer to fill up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
In a hilly village northwest of Budapest, siblings Andras and Blanka Arki have brought a bag of plastic containers and bottles to fill up at a roadside water cart in scorching 41C heat.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Tankers are already massing outside the Strait to fill up.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026
The fuel tanks had even been sealed shut back in Moscow so that they couldn’t cheat and land somewhere along the way to fill up again.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
