fillet

[ fil-it; usually fi-ley for 1, 10 ]

/ ˈfɪl ɪt; usually fɪˈleɪ for 1, 10 /

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noun

Cooking.

a boneless cut or slice of meat or fish, especially the beef tenderloin.
a piece of veal or other meat boned, rolled, and tied for roasting.

a narrow band of ribbon or the like worn around the head, usually as an ornament; headband.

any narrow strip, as wood or metal.

a strip of any material used for binding.

Bookbinding.

a decorative line impressed on a book cover, usually at the top and bottom of the back.
a rolling tool for impressing such lines.

Architecture.

Also called list. a narrow flat molding or area, raised or sunk between larger moldings or areas.
a narrow portion of the surface of a column left between adjoining flutes.

Anatomy. lemniscus.

a raised rim or ridge, as a ring on the muzzle of a gun.

Metallurgy. a concave strip forming a rounded interior angle in a foundry pattern.

verb (used with object)

Cooking.

to cut or prepare (meat or fish) as a fillet.
to cut fillets from.

to bind or adorn with or as if with a fillet.

Machinery. to round off (an interior angle) with a fillet.

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Also filet (for defs. 1, 10).

Origin of fillet

1300–50; Middle English filet<Anglo-French, Middle French, equivalent to fil thread + -et-et

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fillet in a sentence

That said, if you’re imagining a big fillet of pure meat like you pick up at the store, you’re going to be disappointed.
How to Clean, Cook, and Eat Trout in the Backcountry|Ryan Wichelns|October 15, 2020|Outside Online
Barofsky recalls with evident glee that Warren “just filleted Geithner” at a June 2010 public TARP oversight hearing.
Elizabeth the Great: Warren’s Sweet Victory in Massachusetts|Daniel Gross|November 7, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The four facing the cardinal points of the compass are larger than the intermediate ones, which are filleted.
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Carlisle|C. King Eley
May I tempt you to a little more filleted lemon sole, miss Dubedat?
Ulysses|James Joyce

Cooked en casserole, or filleted, or grilled and stuffed with Carlsbad plums, it is delicious.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, September 8th, 1920|Various
The Daphnephoria is headed by a boy, both whose parents are alive, and his nearest male relation carries the filleted pole.
Archaic England|Harold Bayley
A board is rebated and filleted when two adjoining rebates are filled with a fillet.
Handwork in Wood|William Noyes

British Dictionary definitions for fillet

fillet

/ (ˈfɪlɪt) /

noun

Also called: fillet steak a strip of boneless meat, esp the undercut of a sirloin of beef
the boned side of a fish
the white meat of breast and wing of a chicken

a narrow strip of any material

a thin strip of ribbon, lace, etc, worn in the hair or around the neck

a narrow flat moulding, esp one between other mouldings

a narrow band between two adjacent flutings on the shaft of a column

Also called: fillet weld a narrow strip of welded metal of approximately triangular cross-section used to join steel members at right angles

heraldry a horizontal division of a shield, one quarter of the depth of the chief

Also called: listel, list the top member of a cornice

anatomy a band of sensory nerve fibres in the brain connected to the thalamusTechnical name: lemniscus

a narrow decorative line, impressed on the cover of a book
a wheel tool used to impress such lines

another name for fairing 1

verb -lets, -leting or -leted (tr)

to cut or prepare (meat or fish) as a fillet

to cut fillets from (meat or fish)

anatomy to surgically remove a bone from (part of the body) so that only soft tissue remains

to bind or decorate with or as if with a fillet

Also (for senses 1–3): filet

Word Origin for fillet

C14: from Old French filet, from fil thread, from Latin fīlum

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

fillet

Origin of fillet

Words related to fillet

How to use fillet in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for fillet

Word Origin for fillet