I. ˈjil noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English gille, perhaps from Middle French gille, gelle vat, tub, from Latin gerulus bearer, carrier, from gerere to bear — more at cast
1. : either of two units of capacity:
a. : a British unit equal to 1/4 imperial pint or 8.669 cubic inches
b. : a United States liquid unit equal to 1/4 United States liquid pint or 7.218 cubic inches — see measure table
2. dialect England : half a pint
II. intransitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
dialect Britain : tipple
III. ˈgil noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English gile, gille, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Swedish gel, geel gill, jaw, Old Danish gæln gill, Old Norse gjilnar lips; akin to Greek chelynē lip, jawbone, cheilos lip, Armenian jełun palate, ceiling
1. : an organ for obtaining oxygen from water: as
a. : one of the highly vascular lamellar or filamentous processes of the pharynx of fishes and many larval amphibians by which oxygen dissolved in the surrounding water is absorbed through a thin enclosing membrane and certain wastes are given up
b. : any of various functionally comparable but structurally dissimilar organs of invertebrates (as the ctenidia within the mantle cavity of a bivalve mollusk or the branching respiratory tree that arises from the cloaca of a sea urchin)
c.
(1) : the entire respiratory apparatus of a water-breathing animal
(2) gills plural : the gills of a fish together with supporting branchial arches, branchial clefts, gill covers, and associated structures
2.
a. : the fleshy flap below the beak of a fowl : wattle
b. : the flesh under or about the chin or jaws — usually used in plural
decidedly pink about the gills — Norman Douglas
c. : one of the radiating gill-shaped plates forming the undersurface of the pileus of various basidiomycetes
d. : one of the fallers which comb and arrange fibers or filaments in parallel order prior to spinning
e. : a corrugation or series of lips or fins usually for promoting radiation of heat from a tube or plate (as in a heating system)
•
- to the gills
IV. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English gillen, from gile, gille, n.
transitive verb
1. : to remove the insides of (fish)
2. : to catch (fish) by the gills in a gill net
3. : to treat (fibers or filaments) in a gill box
intransitive verb
: to become entangled in a gill net — used of fish
V. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English gille, gylle, from Old Norse gil; akin to Middle Low German gīl throat, Old High German gil hernia, Old English gǣlan to hinder, impede, Old Norse gīna to yawn — more at yawn
1. Britain : a narrow steep-sided rocky valley sometimes containing a stream : ravine
2. Britain : a narrow stream or rivulet ; especially : one flowing through a gill
VI. noun
or jill ˈjil
( -s )
Usage: often capitalized
Etymology: Middle English gill, short for the name Gillian
1. : girl , sweetheart — usually used in conjunction with Jack
every Jack must have his Gill
2. dialect England : ground ivy
VII. noun
( -s )
Etymology: origin unknown
dialect England : a two-wheeled frame for moving timber