▪ I. filigrane, n.
(ˈfɪlɪgreɪn)
Forms: α. 7–9 filigrain(e, fillagreen, (7 filagram, fil'gran, filegreen, filograin, 8 filagrain, -green), 8 filigreen, filligrane, -grean, -green, 8– filigrane. β. 7 philigrin, 7–8 philagrain, -green, -grin.
[a. Fr. filigrane (in 17th c. often -gramme), ad. It. filigrana, f. L. fīlum thread and grānum grain.]
1. = filigree n. 1.
| 1668 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 10 A cabinet of cristall and philigrin. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 183 As if it had been wrought in Filograin. 1682 Lond. Gaz. No. 1721/1 Coco-nut Cups set in Fillagreen. 1713 Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 226 Their Embroiderers work in Filigreen very curiously. 1794 W. Combe Boydell's Thames I. 90 Taste has run into the contrary extreme of frippery and filigrane. 1850 Longfellow Blind Girl of Castèl-Cuillè iii. 68 The crown of filigrane suspended from the low-arched portal. |
b. transf. esp. of architectural ornament.
| 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Caramel, The Sugar thickens and..a kind of curious Filigreen or Net-work, will be form'd. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) I. 194 For airy towers of almost filigraine we have none to be compared with those of Rheims. 1775 ― Let. to Sir H. Mann 22 Apr., Adam, our most admired, is all gingerbread, filigraine, and fan-painting. |
2. attrib. = filigree 2. Also filigrane-work = filigree-work.
| 1680 Ashmole Diary 358 A gold chain..composed..of philagreen links in great knobs. 1687 E. Browne Trav. (ed. 2) 147 A curious Filegrane Handkerchief, and two fair Filegrane Plates. a 1689 A. Behn Novels (1722) II. 194 This case shall be..like those delicate ones of Filligrin Work, which do not hinder the sight. 1690 Songs Costume (Percy Soc.) 194 In filgran casset. 1696 tr. Du Mont's Voy. Levant x. 122 A golden Sun of Filagram-Work. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 245 ¶2 A small Cabinet..in which were..several Filagrain Curiosities. 1715 tr. Mad. D'Anois' Wks. 416 All in large Flaskets of Filagreen Gold. 1742 Mrs. Delany Autobiog. (1861) II. 169 A fine present in a large filligrane silver box. 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty viii. 96 The great number of its filligreen ornaments. 1786 tr. Beckford's Vathek (1823) 67 Drawing from a fillagreen urn, a parchment. 1847 Ansted Anc. World viii. 144 Their edges appear like golden filigrane-work. |
▪ II. † ˈfiligrane, v. Obs.
= filigree v. Hence † ˈfiligraned ppl. a.
| 1690 Evelyn Fop's Dict., Fil-grain'd, Dressing-boxes..or whatever else is made of silver wire-work. |