English
full
see also: Full
Pronunciation
  • enPR: fo͝ol, IPA: /fʊl/, [fʊɫ]
  • (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA: /fʉl/
Etymology 1

From Middle English ful, from Old English full, from Proto-West Germanic *full, from Proto-Germanic *fullaz, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós.

Germanic cognates include Western Frisian fol, Low German vull, Dutch vol, German voll, Danish fuld, and Norwegian - and Swedish full (the latter three via Old Norse). Proto-Indo-European cognates include English plenty (via Latin, compare plēnus), Welsh llawn, Russian по́лный, Lithuanian pilnas, Persian پر, Sanskrit पूर्ण.

See also fele and Scots fou. For the "drunk, intoxicated" sense, compare also Swedish full and other Scandinavian languages.

Adjective

full (comparative fuller, superlative fullest)

  1. Containing the maximum possible amount that can fit in the space available.
    The jugs were full to the point of overflowing.
  2. Complete; with nothing omitted.
    Our book gives full treatment to the subject of angling.
    1. (category theory, of a functor between locally small categories) Surjective as a map of morphisms
      Coordinate terms: faithful, fully faithful
    2. (category theory, of a subcategory S of C) Including all morphisms. Formally: Such that for every pairs of objects (X, Y) in S, the hom-sets \operatorname{Hom}_S(X,Y) and \operatorname{Hom}_C(X,Y) are equal.
      Coordinate terms: embedding, replete, strictly full
  3. Total, entire.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
      'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.
    She had tattoos the full length of her arms.   He was prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
  4. Completely empowered, authorized or qualified (in some role); not limited.
    full member
    full officer
  5. (informal) Having eaten to satisfaction, having a "full" stomach; replete.
    "I'm full," he said, pushing back from the table.
  6. (informal, with "of") Replete, abounding with.
    This movie doesn't make sense; it's full of plot holes.
    I prefer my pizzas full of toppings.
  7. (informal, of hands, chiefly, in the plural) Carrying as much as possible.
    Hang on - my hands are full; just let me put these down.
  8. (of physical features) Plump, round.
    full lips; a full face; a full figure
  9. (of the moon) Having its entire face illuminated.
    • 1969, Alan S. Feinstein, Folk tales from Siam, page 82:
      For on those evenings, when the moon is full and bright and clear, mothers and fathers in Siam tell their children to look up at the moon and then ask them what they see there.
  10. (of garments) Of a size that is ample, wide, or having ample folds or pleats to be comfortable.
    a full pleated skirt; She needed her full clothing during her pregnancy.
  11. Having depth and body; rich.
    a full singing voice
  12. (obsolete) Having the mind filled with ideas; stocked with knowledge; stored with information.
    • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Studies”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC ↗:
      Reading maketh a full man.
  13. Having the attention, thoughts, etc., absorbed in any matter, and the feelings more or less excited by it.
    She's full of her latest project.
    • 1693, [John Locke], “§7”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC ↗:
      Everyone is now full of the miracles done by cold baths on decayed and weak constitutions.
  14. Filled with emotions.
    • 1848, James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfal:
      The heart is so full that a drop overfills it.
  15. (obsolete) Impregnated; made pregnant.
    • 1697, Virgil, translated by John Dryden, The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:
      Ilia, the fair, […] full of Mars.
  16. (poker, postnominal) Said of the three cards of the same rank in a full house.
    nines full of aces
    I'll beat him with my kings full!
  17. (chiefly, AU) Drunk, intoxicated.
    • 1925, United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee No. 1, Charges Against William E. Baker, U.S. District Judge:
      Mr. Coniff: That is the only evidence you gave of his being intoxicated, that his hat was on the side? […] Mr. Coniff: That is the only indication you gave the committee when you were asked if the judge was full, that his hat was on the side of his head; is that right?
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Adverb

full (not comparable)

  1. (archaic) Fully; quite; very; thoroughly; completely; exactly; entirely.
    • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:
      Prospero:
      I have done nothing but in care of thee,
      Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter, who
      Art ignorant of what thou art; naught knowing
      Of whence I am, nor that I am more better
      Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,
      And thy no greater father.
    • 1697, Virgil, translated by John Dryden, The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:
      […] full in the centre of the sacred wood
    • 1819, John Keats, Otho the Great, act IV, scene I, verse 112:
      You know full well what makes me look so pale.
    • 1880, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, William Blake, lines 9–12:
      This cupboard […]
      this other one,
      His true wife's charge, full oft to their abode
      Yielded for daily bread the martyr's stone,
    • 1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night, section IX:
      It is full strange to him who hears and feels,
      When wandering there in some deserted street,
      The booming and the jar of ponderous wheels, […]
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC ↗:
      I turned my head, and as I lay gasping in the throes of that awful struggle I could see that Leo was off the rock now, for the lamplight fell full upon him.
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:
      Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. […] She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, […].
Etymology 2

From Middle English fulle, fylle, fille, from Old English fyllu, fyllo, from Proto-Germanic *fullį̄, *fulnō, from Proto-Indo-European *plūno-, *plno-, from *pelh₁-, *pleh₁-.

Noun

full (plural fulls)

  1. Utmost measure or extent; highest state or degree; the state, position, or moment of fullness; fill.
    • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:
      The swan's-down feather,
      That stands upon the swell at full of tide.
    • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Third Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC ↗:
      Sicilian tortures and the brazen bull,
      Are emblems, rather than express the full
      Of what he feels.
    I was fed to the full.
    • 1911, Berthold Auerbach, Bayard Taylor, The villa on the Rhine:
      […] he had tasted their food, and found it so palatable that he had eaten his full before he knew it.
  2. (of the moon) The phase of the moon when its entire face is illuminated, full moon.
    • a. 1622, Francis Bacon, Natural History, in The works of Francis Bacon, 1765, page [https://books.google.com/books?id=1KjGJV0UGgMC&pg=PA322&dq=%22It+is+like,+that+the+brain+of+man+waxeth+moister+and+fuller+upon+the+%27%27%27full%27%27%27+of+the+moon%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiNlKzU_qnmAhWyrFkKHQSBBTUQ6AEwAHoECAEQAg#v=onepage&q=%22It%20is%20like%2C%20that%20the%20brain%20of%20man%20waxeth%20moister%20and%20fuller%20upon%20the%20full%20of%20the%20moon%22&f=false 322]
      It is like, that the brain of man waxeth moister and fuller upon the full of the moon: [...]
    • a. 1656, Joseph Hall, Josiah Pratt (editor), Works, Volume VII: Practical Works, Revised edition, 1808 [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=wbMrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA219&lpg=PA219&dq=This+earthly+moon,+the+Church,+hath+fulls+and+wanings,+and+sometimes+her+eclipses.+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&source=bl&ots=SWZOrPjJsY&sig=4GKwMWA4MtrBMtG7JCqn_ajguQI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hDEeUInNIcWZiQeboIC4Bg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=This%20earthly%20moon%2C%20the%20Church%2C%20hath%20fulls%20and%20wanings%2C%20and%20sometimes%20her%20eclipses.%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 219],
      This earthly moon, the Church, hath her fulls and wanings, and sometimes her eclipses, while the shadow of this sinful mass hides her beauty from the world.
  3. (freestyle skiing) An aerialist maneuver consisting of a backflip in conjunction and simultaneous with a complete twist.
Verb

full (fulls, present participle fulling; simple past and past participle fulled)

  1. (of the moon) To become full or wholly illuminated.
    • 1905, Annie Fellows Johnston, chapter 4, in The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation:
      "By the black cave of Atropos, when the moon fulls, keep thy tryst!"
    • 1918, Kate Douglas Wiggin, chapter 29, in The Story Of Waitstill Baxter:
      "The moon fulls to-night, don't it?"
Etymology 3

From Middle English fullen, fulwen, from Old English fullian, fulwian, from full- + *wīhan (later *wēon).

Verb

full (fulls, present participle fulling; simple past and past participle fulled)

  1. (transitive) To baptise.
    • 1610 October, John Foxe, “An Old Ancient Writing Intituled, The Praier and Complaint of the Ploughman”, in Actes and Monuments of Matters Most Speciall and Memorable, Happening in the Church, with an Vniuersall Historie of the Same. […], 6th edition, volume I, London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for the Company of Stationers, →OCLC ↗, book V, page 373 ↗, column 2:
      And thy diſciples fulleden men in thy name, in forgiueneſſe of her ſinnes.
Etymology 4

From Middle English fullen, from Middle French fouler, from Old French foler, fouler, from Medieval Latin fullo, from Latin fullo.

Verb

full (fulls, present participle fulling; simple past and past participle fulled)

  1. To make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating and pressing; to waulk or walk.
    Synonyms: tuck, walk, waulk
Translations
Full
Etymology

Borrowed from German Full.

Proper noun
  1. Surname.


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