Meaning & use
feller
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Meanings
nouncountableinformaldialectold-fashioned
A casual, spoken way of saying 'fellow', meaning a man or boy.
Grammar: Used mainly in speech or in dialogue; it often follows an adjective: a nice feller.
Patterns
- a nice feller
- a young feller
He's a decent feller, once you get to know him.
Who's that young feller standing by the gate?
My grandfather always called the mailman a good feller.
nouncountabletechnical
A person or machine whose job is to cut down trees.
Grammar: A technical word in forestry: the feller cuts, and other workers trim and haul.
Patterns
- a tree feller
- a feller buncher
The feller marked the lean of the pine before making the first cut.
A single feller can bring down dozens of trees in a day.
The forestry company bought a new feller to speed up the harvest.
Word forms
| plural | fellers |
|---|
Common combinations
- a nice feller
- I met a nice feller at the market who sold me this hat.
- old feller
- The old feller next door tends the best vegetable garden on the street.
- young feller
- Hold on there, young feller, you've dropped your scarf.
- tree feller
- The tree feller wore protective gear and a helmet.
- feller buncher
- A feller buncher cuts and gathers the trees in one pass.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fellow
- 'Fellow' is the standard form and works in any setting, while 'feller' marks a casual, rural or regional voice.
- fella
- 'Fella' is the more widespread informal spelling and sounds friendly, while 'feller' feels more old-fashioned or dialectal.
- chap
- 'Chap' is typically British, a bit dated, and often warmer in tone than 'feller'.
- lumberjack
- 'Lumberjack' names a tree cutter as part of the wider logging trade, while 'feller' names the specific task of felling.
Word family
Commonly confused: feller or filler?
feller vs filler
A 'filler' is something used to fill a space or gap, which sounds a bit like 'feller' but has no link to men or trees.
Practice
The ___ marked the oak with chalk and then brought it down with a chainsaw.
Choose one answer.
A 'feller' cuts down trees. 'Fellow' means a man or colleague, and 'filler' and 'fuller' are different words, so they do not describe someone using a chainsaw.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “feller”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.