filip

Noun

fillip (plural fillips)

1. (archaic) The action of holding the tip of a finger against the thumb and then releasing it with a snap; a flick.
   • And let him ſuppoſe, that if a Man in the beginning of the World, or four or five hundred Years ago, had laid a little round Marble upon a Table, and to put the ſame in Motion, had given it a Fillip with his Finger; the ſaid Marble, according to the abovemention'd Law of Nature, would (if no other...1724, [Bernard] Nieuwentyt, “Contemplation XXVI. Of Certain Laws of Nature.”, in John Chamberlayne, transl., The Religious Philosopher: Or, The Right Use of Contemplating the Works of the Creator....
2. A sharp strike or tap made using this action, or (by extension) by other means.
   • The blasphemy done to a mortal man is punished with the sword, and shall the blasphemy done to God escape think you with a fillip in the forehead, or with the knock of a little wooden betel, as it is begun to be punished in certain men's houses now of late? Nay, verily. It is no fillip matter...1543, Thomas Becon [i.e., Thomas Beccon], “An Invective against the Most Wicked and Detestable Vice of Swearing”, in Writings of the Rev. Thomas Becon, […] (British Reformers; 10), London: Printed...
3. (broadly) Something unimportant, a trifle; also, the brief time it takes to flick one's finger (see noun sense 1); a jiffy.
   • Eat, drink and love; the rest's not worth a fillip.1821, Lord Byron, “Sardanapalus”, in Sardanapalus, a Tragedy; The Two Foscari, a Tragedy; Cain, a Mystery, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 20
4. (broadly) Something that excites or stimulates.
   • This measure gave a fillip to the housing market.

See all 9 meanings of fillip