full

Etymology 1

From Middle English ful, from Old English full (“full”), from Proto-West Germanic *full, from Proto-Germanic *fullaz (“full”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós (“full”). Germanic cognates include West 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 (pólnyj), Lithuanian pilnas, Persian پر (por), Sanskrit पूर्ण (pūrṇa). See also fele and Scots fou. For the "drunk, intoxicated" sense, compare also Swedish full and other Scandinavian languages.

adj

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.
   Anybody can cure a curable disease if he happens to have the right drug at hand, but the treatment of a condition for which there is no positive cure makes much greater demands on the doctor, who has to be practical pharmacologist, human being, psychiatrist, and father confessor—he has, in fact, to be a proper physician in the fullest sense of the word. 1976-03-27, F. Dudley Hart, “History of the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis”, in British Medical Journal, volume 1, number 6012, →DOI, →JSTOR, page 763
   Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.[…]A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale. 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist
   Our book gives full treatment to the subject of angling.
3. Total, entire.
   '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. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
   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. (of physical features) Plump, round.
   full lips; a full face; a full figure
8. (of the moon) Having its entire face illuminated.
   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. 1969, Alan S. Feinstein, Folk tales from Siam, page 82
9. (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.
10. Having depth and body; rich.
    a full singing voice
11. (obsolete) Having the mind filled with ideas; stocked with knowledge; stored with information.
12. 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.
13. Filled with emotions.
    The heart is so full that a drop overfills it. 1848, James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfal
14. (obsolete) Impregnated; made pregnant.
15. (poker, postnominal) Said of the three cards of the same rank in a full house.
    nines full of aces (three nines and two aces)
    I'll beat him with my kings full! (three kings and two unspecified cards of the same rank)
16. (chiefly Australia) Drunk, intoxicated.
    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? 1925, United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee No. 1, Charges Against William E. Baker, U.S. District Judge

adv

1. (archaic) Fully; quite; very; thoroughly; completely; exactly; entirely.
   […] full in the centre of the sacred wood
   You know full well what makes me look so pale. 1819, John Keats, Otho the Great, act IV, scene I, verse 112
   This cupboard[…] this other one, His true wife's charge, full oft to their abode Yielded for daily bread the martyr's stone, 1880, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, William Blake, lines 9–12
   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,[…] 1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night, section IX

Etymology 2

table From Middle English fulle, fylle, fille, from Old English fyllu, fyllo (“fullness, fill, plenty”), from Proto-Germanic *fullį̄, *fulnō (“fullness, filling, overflow”), from Proto-Indo-European *plūno-, *plno- (“full”), from *pelh₁-, *pleh₁- (“to fill; full”). Cognate with German Fülle (“fullness, fill”), Icelandic fylli (“fulness, fill”). More at fill.

noun

1. Utmost measure or extent; highest state or degree; the state, position, or moment of fullness; fill.
   I was fed to the full.
   […] he had tasted their food, and found it so palatable that he had eaten his full before he knew it. 1911, Berthold Auerbach, Bayard Taylor, The villa on the Rhine
   Early next morning we were over at the elk carcass, and, as we expected, found that the bear had eaten his full at it during the night. 2008, Jay Cassell, The Gigantic Book Of Hunting Stories
   When he had eaten his full, they set to work again. 2010, C. E. Morgan, All the Living: A Novel
2. (of the moon) The phase of the moon when its entire face is illuminated, full moon.
   It is like, that the brain of man waxeth moister and fuller upon the full of the moon: … a. 1622, Francis Bacon, Natural History, in The works of Francis Bacon, 1765, page 322
   a. 1656, Joseph Hall, Josiah Pratt (editor), Works, Volume VII: Practical Works, Revised edition, 1808 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

1. (of the moon) To become full or wholly illuminated.
   The September moon fulls on the 20th at 24 minutes past midnight, and is called the harvest moon. September 20 1888, “The Harvest Moon”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-04-10
   By the black cave of Atropos, when the moon fulls, keep thy tryst! 1905, Annie Fellows Johnston, chapter 4, in The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation
   "The moon fulls to-night, don't it?" 1918, Kate Douglas Wiggin, chapter 29, in The Story Of Waitstill Baxter

Etymology 3

table From Middle English fullen (“to baptise”), fulwen, from Old English fullian, fulwian (“to baptise”), from full- + *wīhan (later *wēon). Compare Old English fulluht, fulwiht (“baptism”).

verb

1. (transitive) To baptise.

Etymology 4

table From Middle English fullen (“to full”), from Middle French fouler, from Old French foler, fouler (“to tread, to stamp, to full”), from Medieval Latin fullare, from Latin fullo (“a fuller”).

verb

1. To make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating and pressing; to waulk or walk.