film

Etymology

From Middle English filme, from Old English filmen (“film, membrane, thin skin, foreskin”), from Proto-West Germanic *filmīn-, from Proto-Germanic *filmīn- (“thin skin, membrane”) (compare Proto-Germanic *felma- (“skin, hide”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pél-mo- (“membrane”), from *pel- (“to cover, skin”). Cognate with Old Frisian filmene (“thin skin, human skin”), Middle Dutch velm, vilm (“fleece, film, membrane”), Old High German felm (“peel, skin, wrap”), Old English *felma (in ǣġerfelma (“egg membrane”)). Related also to Dutch vel (“sheet, skin”), German Fell (“skin, hide, fur”), Swedish fjäll (“fur blanket, cloth, scale”), Norwegian fille (“rag, cloth”), Lithuanian plėvē (“membrane, scab”), Russian плева́ (plevá, “membrane”), Ancient Greek πέλμα (pélma, “sole of the foot”). More at fell. Sense of a thin coat of something is 1577, extended by 1845 to the coating of chemical gel on photographic plates. By 1895 this also meant the coating plus the paper or celluloid.

noun

1. A thin layer of some substance; a pellicle; a membranous covering, causing opacity.
   a clear plastic film for wrapping food
2. (photography) A medium used to capture images in a camera.
3. (uncountable) A visual art form that consists of a sequence of still images preserved on a recording medium to give the illusion of motion; movies generally.
   Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives. To examine this manifestation of religious fandom, I will first discuss the canon scepticism and anti-Rowling sentiment that helps to contextualise the wider belief in Snape as a character who extends beyond book and film. 3 March 2014, Zoe Alderton, “‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom”, in Religions, volume 5, number 1, MDPI, →DOI, pages 219–257
4. (countable) The sequence of still images itself; a movie.
5. A slender thread, such as that of a cobweb.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To record (activity, or a motion picture) on photographic film.
   A Hollywood studio was filming on location in NYC.
   I tried to film the UFO as it passed overhead.
   It was truly one of the most horrific filming experiences of my career there, contrasting neatly with some of the best of my career - filming in various off-limits storerooms at LTM's Acton Depot. June 30 2021, Tim Dunn, “How we made... Secrets of the London Underground”, in RAIL, number 934, pages 49–50
2. (transitive, intransitive) To visually record (activity, or a motion picture) in general, with or without sound.
3. (transitive) To cover or become covered with a thin skin or pellicle.
   Her legs folded under her, and her eyes filmed over. 2012, Nathan Archer, Valhalla