Frill sb.¹

[This and the related FRILL v.¹ are of uncertain origin. The common view is that FRILL v.³, to shiver, gave rise to a sb. (see FRILL sb.³) meaning ‘the ruffling of a hawk’s feathers when shivering,’ and that the word as applied to an article of costume is a transferred use of this. But this hypothesis finds no support in the rare early instances of the words; and there is no proof that the sb. ever had the alleged sense. Sense 2 of the vb. suggests that it may be a metathetic form of FURL; but this is app. peculiar to Knolles, and should perh. be regarded as an unconnected word. The sb. as used by butchers (sense 3 below) is commonly regarded as a transferred sense from the ‘frill’ of a shirt; but the analogy of CHITTERLING and of F. fraise (mesentery of a calf, 14th c.; ruff, frill, 16th c.) suggests the possibility that the butchers’ sense may be the original (though not recorded until quite recently). Godef. has one quot. for an OF. pple. freolé (v. r. freioleit) = ‘frilled’ (said of a shirt); and it is noteworthy that in the 17th c. the F. equivalent of FURL v. (cf. FRILL v.¹ 2) was fresler, which seems to belong to OF. freseler to frill, adorn, f. fresel, -ele, dim. of fraise ruff; but it is not easy to see how Eng. frill can be connected with these words.]

  1.  An ornamental edging made of a strip of any woven material, of which one edge is gathered and the other left loose so as to give it a wavy or fluted appearance. Toby-frill, such as appears on the figure of Toby in the frontispiece of Punch.

  (The sense in the first quot. is doubtful; ‘borrowed frills’ suggests rather false curls or the like than what is defined above; cf. FRILL v.¹ 2.)

1591.  R. Turnbull, Expos. Jas., 95 b. Their flaunting ruffes … their borowed frilles, and such like vanities.

1801.  Mason, Suppl. to Johnson, Frill, an edging of fine linen on the bosom of a shirt.

1812.  J. Nott, Dekker’s Gvlls Horne-bk., 90, note. This is the earliest mention I recollect to have seen made of what we now call the frill, or chitterling of the shirt.

1841.  Lytton, Nt. & Morn., II. iii. What have you been at? You have torn your frill into tatters!

1882.  Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, II. x. 210–1. Mopsy and Dopsy, their long limbs sheathed in sea-green velveteen, Toby-frills round their necks, and sunflowers on their shoulders.

  b.  transf. A similar article of cut paper or net put round the knuckle of a ham, etc., when brought to table.

1866.  Geo. Eliot, F. Holt (1868), 33. His eyes fixed abstractedly on the frill of a ham before him.

  c.  Anything resembling such an edging; e.g., a fringe of feathers round the neck of a bird; a process like this on an invertebrate animal, a ring on a fungus, a tuft on the neck of a dog, etc.

1878.  Bell, Gegenbaur’s Comp. Anat., 122. They consist of four or eight frills, curved in a semilunar form, and arranged in a rosette on the inner surface of the umbrella.

1883.  G. Stables, Our Friend the Dog, vii. 60. Frill—The mass of feather on a long-coated dog’s chest.

  d.  fig. (U.S. colloq.) An affectation of dress or manners, an air. Usually pl.

1889.  Century Dict., s. v., He puts on too many frills.

  2.  A kind of scallop-shell. See FREEL.

1803.  Montagu, in Gosse, Year at Shore (1865), 25, note. [This Pecten] is known by the name of Frills or Queens.

1865.  Gosse, ibid., The term ‘frill’ obviously refers to the form of the shell.

  3.  Used by butchers for: The mesentery of an animal.

1879.  Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., Frill, a piece of fleshy fat surrounding the entrails of a pig: it has the appearance of being puckered like a frill, whence its name.

1884.  Chesh. Gloss., Frill, the puckered edge of the fat which is stripped from the entrails of a pig.

  4.  Photography. [From the vb.] The irregular rising of a gelatine film at the edges of a plate, so as to present the semblance of a frill.

  5.  attrib. and Comb., as frill-like adj.; frill-back (see quot.); frill-lizard, an Australian lizard of the genus Chlamydosaurus whose neck is encircled by a broad membrane, erectile at pleasure.

1765.  Treat. Dom. Pigeons, 144. The Frill-back … what is remarkable in them is, the turn of their feathers, which appear as if every one distinctly had been raised at the extremity with a small round pointed instrument, in such a manner as to form a small cavity in each of them.

1895.  Westm. Gaz., 17 Aug., 3/3. The extraordinary frill-like appendage which encircles its neck.

  Hence Frilless a. [-LESS], having no frill; Frilly a. [-Y¹.], furnished with a frill.

1843.  Hood, To Henrietta, ii.

1883.  D. Wingate, Lost Laird, xvi. Over her grey hair she wore a frillless ‘mutch.’

1896.  Punch, CX. 21 March, 133/3.