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definitions

filming

[fil-ming]
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noun

the act or period of photographing, especially of a motion picture.

Origin of filming

First recorded in 1885–90; film + -ing1

film

[film]

noun

a thin layer or coating: a film of grease on a plate.
a thin sheet of any material: a film of ice.
a thin skin or membrane.
a delicate web of filaments or fine threads.
a thin haze, blur, or mist.
Photography.
  1. a cellulose nitrate or cellulose acetate composition made in thin sheets or strips and coated with a sensitive emulsion for taking photographs.
  2. a strip or roll of this.
  3. the coating of emulsion on such a sheet or strip or on a photographic plate.
Movies.
  1. a strip of transparent material, usually cellulose triacetate, covered with a photographic emulsion and perforated along one or both edges, intended for the recording and reproduction of images.
  2. a similar perforated strip covered with an iron oxide emulsion (magfilm), intended for the recording and reproduction of both images and sound.
  3. motion picture.
Often films,
  1. motion pictures collectively.
  2. the motion-picture industry, or its productions, operations, etc.
  3. motion pictures, as a genre of art or entertainment: experimental film.

verb (used with object)

to cover with a film, thin skin, or pellicle: filmed eyes.
Movies.
  1. to photograph with a motion-picture camera.
  2. to reproduce in the form of motion pictures: to film a novel.

verb (used without object)

to become covered by a film: The water filmed over with ice.
Movies.
  1. to be reproduced in a motion picture, especially in a specified manner: This story films easily.
  2. to direct, make, or otherwise engage in the production of motion pictures.

Origin of film

before 1000; 1890–95 for def 6; 1900–05 for def 7; Middle English filme, Old English filmen membrane; akin to fell4
Related formsfilm·like, adjectivere·film, verb (used with object)un·filmed, adjectivewell-filmed, adjective

Synonyms for film

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR film ON THESAURUS.COM
11. mist, haze, cloud, veil.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for filming

shoot, photograph, record, take, roll

Examples from the Web for filming

Contemporary Examples of filming

Historical Examples of filming

British Dictionary definitions for filming

film

noun

  1. a sequence of images of moving objects photographed by a camera and providing the optical illusion of continuous movement when projected onto a screen
  2. a form of entertainment, information, etc, composed of such a sequence of images and shown in a cinema, etc
  3. (as modifier)film techniques
a thin flexible strip of cellulose coated with a photographic emulsion, used to make negatives and transparencies
a thin coating or layer
a thin sheet of any material, as of plastic for packaging
a fine haze, mist, or blur
a gauzy web of filaments or fine threads
pathol an abnormally opaque tissue, such as the cornea in some eye diseases

verb

  1. to photograph with a cine camera
  2. to make a film of (a screenplay, event, etc)
(often foll by over) to cover or become covered or coated with a film

Word Origin for film

Old English filmen membrane; related to Old Frisian filmene, Greek pelma sole of the foot; see fell 4
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
Word Origin and History for filming

film

v.

c.1600, "to cover with a film," from film (v.). Meaning "to make a movie of" is from 1899. Related: Filmed; filming.

film

n.

Old English filmen "membrane, thin skin," from West Germanic *filminjan (cf. Old Frisian filmene "skin," Old English fell "hide"), extended from Proto-Germanic *fello(m) "animal hide," from PIE *pel- (4) "skin, hide" (cf. Greek pella, Latin pellis "skin").

Sense of "a thin coat of something" is 1570s, extended by 1845 to the coating of chemical gel on photographic plates. By 1895 this also meant the coating plus the paper or celluloid. First used of "motion pictures" in 1905.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
filming in Medicine

film

[fĭlm]

n.

A light-sensitive or x-ray-sensitive substance used in taking photographs or radiographs.
A thin layer or membranous coating.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.