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stocking filler

British  

noun

  1. a present, esp a toy, of a size suitable for inclusion in a child's Christmas stocking

"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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The title may make it sound like a stocking filler, unexpected from a philosopher best known for his contrarian politics and skepticism about human progress.

From Washington Post • Nov. 24, 2020

On his way home from work on Christmas Eve in 1956, Bond spied a lonely teddy bear on the shelf in a shop window, and took it home as a stocking filler for his wife.

From BBC • Jun. 28, 2017

To get my mind working, I looked round the room and caught sight of this toy bear I had bought for my wife as a stocking filler at Christmas.

From New York Times • Jan. 14, 2015

Haran added, slightly alarmingly, that "a brain implant would be a great stocking filler..."

From The Guardian • Jan. 24, 2013

Its credit-card dimensions make this iPod rival the perfect stocking filler.

From Time Magazine Archive

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.