filigree

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun delicate and intricate ornamentation (usually in gold or silver or other fine twisted wire)
verb make filigree, as with a precious metal

From French filigrane, from Italian filigrana, from Latin fīlum (“thread”) + grānum (“grain”).

Oh, I'm tellin' the truth without any filigree, Dave." — The Bishop of Cottontown: A Story of the Southern Cotton Mills, John Trotwood Moore
Those spindles are Persian, while the filigree is more Byzantine than anything else. — The best short stories of 1917, and the yearbook of the American short story, Unknown
There was his snuff-box; there the filigree chain; a scent-bottle; a rosary; a missal. — One Woman: Being the Second Part of a Romance of Sussex, Alfred Ollivant

filagree, fillagree

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