fill-in

Noun

fill-in (plural fill-ins)

1. A temporary replacement for another, especially at a job.
   • He went in to the Calsag bar to wrangle two fill-ins for the Goldenhoys as ordered.2012, Barry F. Schnell, The Charmurz, page 205
   • I was a fill-in. What that meant was you rode with each salesperson to learn his route, and then you could actually run his route when he was off or on vacation.2013 -, Eugene J. McArdle, Snapshots in Time: As I Recall It, page 10
2. A substitution.
   • All our language is loose: whatever one means to say, all words are fill-ins for other words - as any cursory glance at a dictionary reveals.2004, Anthony Elliott, Social Theory Since Freud: Traversing Social Imaginaries, page 72
3. An intermediate result that must be stored temporarily during the course of a sparse matrix computation.
   • When a fill-in, aᵢⱼ⁽ˢ⁾ is created in the course of the computation, it may be necessary to make copies of the contents of certain parts of the ALU and CNLU at the ends of these arrays.1991, Zahari Zlatev -, Computational Methods for General Sparse Matrices, page 19
   • In practice they are very sparse and generate few fill-ins in the remaining columns.2002, István Maros, Computational Techniques of the Simplex Method, page 131
4. A question or puzzle in which one is expected to fill in a missing part of something.
   • The main interaction styles supported by Web systems are direct manipulation, menus and form fill-ins.2003, Vladimir Geroimenko, Chaomei Chen, Visualizing the Semantic Web
   • This part tests your writing skills in Spanish, and it consists of three different exercises: paragraph fill-ins, discrete sentence fill-ins, and an essay.2005, Gisela Bencomo, CliffsAP Spanish Language, page 117
5. A musical embellishment (usually percussion) that is added to connect musical phrases.
   • The following abbreviations are used for all drum solos and fill-ins.2005, Ted Reed -, Drum Solos and Fill-Ins for the Progressive Drummer
   • Fill-ins usually happen at the end of a four or eight-measure musical phrase.2011, Rob Leytham, Rock Drumming & Soloing Methods, page 9
6. Something added to fill a gap.
   • With too many fill-ins the statistical results become dubious.1992, Terry J. Reedy, Chandra L. Reedy, Principles of Experimental Design for Art Conservation Research
   • Originally, we'd planned a Basie-type thing, using lots of open rhythm, only without any piano for fill-ins.2004, Lawrence McClellan, The Later Swing Era, 1942 to 1955, page 50
7. Something added to increase the size of something; padding or filler.
   • There was, at that time, a small film producing complex known as Ben Blake Studios where a variety of trailers, commercials, fill-ins, and (yes) screen tests were shot.2001, Bud Fine, Afterthoughts, page 29
   • It is not a gossipy yarn; nor is it a dry, monotonous account, full of such customary 'fill-ins' as 'romantic moonlight casting murky shadows down a long, winding country road'.2002, David Crystal, The English Language: A Guided Tour of the Language
8. A product category that is used to complete a range or variety of a product line.
   • Since consumer buying behaviour to obtain staples is different from fill-ins, retailers strategy will also differ.2009, K. V. S. Madaan, Fundamentals of Retailing, page 145
   • Variety enhancers may have medium to high margins, while the fill-ins will have higher profit margins due to the longer time these items may need to move off the shelf in a retail store.2011, Chiplunkar, Product Category Management, page 104