filleting

US: (fil′i ting)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

fil•let•ing  (fil′i ting), n. [Building Trades.]

1. Building material, as mortar, used as a substitute for flashing.

• fillet + -ing¹ 1590–1600

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

fil•let /fɪˈleɪ/   n., v., fil•leted /fɪˈleɪd/  fil•let•ing. 
n. 

1. Food a boneless cut or slice of meat or fish, such as the beef tenderloin:
   [uncountable] Fillet is usually very tender and very expensive.
   [countable] two fillets of beef.

v. [~ + object]
2. Food to cut or prepare (meat or fish) as a fillet.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

fil′let  (fil′it; usually fi lā′ for 1, 10), n. 

1. Food [Cookery.]
   • a boneless cut or slice of meat or fish, esp. the beef tenderloin.
   • a piece of veal or other meat boned, rolled, and tied for roasting.
2. Clothing a narrow band of ribbon or the like worn around the head, usually as an ornament;
   headband.
3. any narrow strip, as wood or metal.
4. a strip of any material used for binding.
5. [Bookbinding.]
   • a decorative line impressed on a book cover, usually at the top and bottom of the back.
   • a rolling tool for impressing such lines.
6. Architecture
   • Also called list. a narrow flat molding or area, raised or sunk between larger moldings or areas. See diag. under molding. 
   • a narrow portion of the surface of a column left between adjoining flutes.
7. Anatomy lemniscus.
8. a raised rim or ridge, as a ring on the muzzle of a gun.
9. Metallurgy a concave strip forming a rounded interior angle in a foundry pattern.

v.t. 

10. Food [Cookery.]
    • to cut or prepare (meat or fish) as a fillet.
    • to cut fillets from.
11. Clothing to bind or adorn with or as if with a fillet.
12. [Mach.] to round off (an interior angle) with a fillet.

Also, filet (for defs. 1, 10).

• Anglo-French, Middle French, equivalent. to fil thread + -et -et
• Middle English filet 1300–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

fillet / ˈfɪlɪt/ noun

1. Also called: fillet steak a strip of boneless meat, esp the undercut of a sirloin of beef
2. the boned side of a fish
3. the white meat of breast and wing of a chicken
4. a narrow strip of any material
5. a thin strip of ribbon, lace, etc, worn in the hair or around the neck
6. a narrow flat moulding, esp one between other mouldings
7. a narrow band between two adjacent flutings on the shaft of a column
8. Also called: fillet weld a narrow strip of welded metal of approximately triangular cross-section used to join steel members at right angles
9. a horizontal division of a shield, one quarter of the depth of the chief
10. Also called: listel, list the top member of a cornice
11. a band of sensory nerve fibres in the brain connected to the thalamus
    Technical name: lemniscus
12. a narrow decorative line, impressed on the cover of a book
13. a wheel tool used to impress such lines
14. another name for fairing1

verb ( -lets, -leting, -leted)(transitive)

1. to cut or prepare (meat or fish) as a fillet
2. to cut fillets from (meat or fish)
3. to surgically remove a bone from (part of the body) so that only soft tissue remains
4. to bind or decorate with or as if with a fillet

Also (for senses 1–3): filet Etymology: 14th Century: from Old French filet, from fil thread, from Latin fīlum