fillip: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Monday, May 25, 2009 fillip \FIL-uhp\, noun: 1. A snap of the finger forced suddenly from the thumb; a smart blow. 2. Something serving to rouse or excite; a stimulus. 3. A trivial addition; an embellishment. 4. To strike with the nail of the finger, first placed against the ball of the thumb, and forced from that position with a sudden spring; to snap with the finger. 5. To snap; to project quickly. 6. To urge on; to provide a stimulus, by or as if by a fillip. If any one in Mirgorod gives him a neckerchief or underclothes, he returns thanks; if any one gives him a fillip on the nose--he returns thanks then also. -- Nikolai Gogol, "The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich" You fillip me o' the head. -- Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida Her raspberry cream tart is given an added fillip with bourbon and nutmeg. -- Marian Burros, "Cooking", New York Times, June 3, 1984 The utopian and romantic -- and in the end completely unrealistic -- idea that the building should serve as a mooring post for airships led to the creation of a tower on the tower, giving a final fillip to the design. -- Nathan Glazer, "Miracle on 34th Street", New York Times, December 3, 1995 Fillip is probably of imitative origin. Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for fillip Yesterday's Word - Previous Words - Help
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