English

Verb

fill in ‎(third-person singular simple present fills in, present participle filling in, simple past and past participle filled in)

1. (transitive) To fill; to replace material that is absent or has been removed.

   After you're done laying the pipe, fill in the trench.

2. (transitive, idiomatic) To inform somebody, especially to supply someone missing or missed information.

   If you know anything about this, maybe you can fill me in.

3. (intransitive, idiomatic) To substitute for somebody or something.

   He can't go on vacation very often because there is nobody to fill in for him.

4. (transitive) To complete a form or questionnaire with requested information.
   • 2011 December 16, Denis Campbell, “Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients'”, in Guardian:

     The findings emerged from questionnaires filled in by 2,211 staff in 145 wards of 55 hospitals in England and Wales and 105 observations of care of dementia patients. Two-thirds of staff said they had not had enough training to provide proper care, 50% said they had not been trained how to communicate properly with such patients and 54% had not been told how to handle challenging or aggressive behaviour.

5. (slang) To beat up; to physically assault.

   Talk to me like that again and I'll fill you in!

Synonyms

• (to complete a form): fill out

Translations

Anagrams

• in-fill, infill