▪ I. filigree, filagree, n.
(ˈfɪlɪgriː, -ˈəgriː)
Forms: α. 7–9 fillagree, 8–9 filligree, 7– filagree, 9 filigree. β. 8 phillagree, phil(l)igree, -grew.
[Abbreviated from filigreen: see filigrane.]
1. a. ‘Jewel work of a delicate kind made with threads and beads, usually of gold and silver’ (Encycl. Brit.).
| 1693 Evelyn Diary 13 July, A cabinet of silver fillagree. 1721 Lond. Gaz. No. 6014/3 Fine chac'd Philigrew and Houshold-Plate. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 118 Ear-rings of silver fillagree finely worked. 1821 Byron Juan iii. lxiii, Gold cups of filigree. 1821 Scott Kenilw. vi, A beautiful Venetian mirror, in a frame of silver filigree. |
| transf. 1873 Browning Red Cott. Nt.-cap 69 Palace-panes Pinholed athwart their windowed filagree By twinklings sobered from the sun outside. |
b. The art of making this work.
| 1800 Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1801) IV. 366 Having her daughters taught French and filagree. |
2. attrib. (= made of, or worked in, filigree); filigree glass (see quot.); filigree paper, paper work: see quot. 1960. Also filigree-work.
| 1747 H. Walpole Let. to Conway 8 June, It is set in enamelled meadows, with phillagree hedges. 1779 Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 299 Goldsmiths, who make filligree buttons. 1796 M. Edgeworth Parent's Assist. (ed. 2) II. ii. 7 The shop where the filigree paper was to be bought. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xi, Enclosed within a filigree screen of gold, lay the image of the saint. 1803 Gent. Mag. in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1804) VII. 44 Fillagree tea-caddies. 1843 Lytton Last Bar. ii. ii, A collar or necklace of uncut jewels set in filagree gold. 1872 Yeates Techn. Hist. Comm. 264 Filigree glass..consisted of spirally-twisted white and coloured enamel glasses, cased in transparent glass. 1886 Sheldon tr. Flaubert's Salammbô 4 Gold filigree baskets containing flowers. 1960 H. Hayward Antique Coll. 117/2 Filigree paper work. Throughout the 18th cent. filigree was a popular amateur ornament for small cabinets... This was achieved solely with tiny rolls of paper. |
Add: [1.] c. fig.
| 1871 J. R. Lowell My Study Windows 244 The filigree of wire-drawn sentiment and supersubtilized conceit. 1916 C. Aiken Jig of Forslin iii. iv. 69 For seven days my quill I dipt To wreathe slow filigrees of script. 1941 W. de la Mare Bells & Grass 87 This lovely icy filigree! 1987 Christian Sci. Monitor 8 May b10/3 Kadaif (a pastry filigree of honey, ground walnuts, and raisins). |
▪ II. filigree, v.
(ˈfɪlɪgriː)
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To ornament with filigree work, to work in filigree. Hence ˈfiligreed ppl. a.
| 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son lvi, A little filagreed basket of fruit. 1847 Tait's Mag. XIV. 383 Vestiges of pre-Adamite existence found filagreed into fossils, or intaglioed on stones. 1872 ‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. xiv. 95 A domed and filagreed white temple..burst upon us. |