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gill

The definition of a gill is an organ for breathing on an underwater creature, or the red flesh hanging below the beak of a bird.

(noun)

An example of a gill is the organ that a goldfish uses to breathe water in order to get oxygen.

See gill in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

the organ for breathing of most animals that live in water, as fish, lobsters, or clams, consisting of a simple saclike or complex feathery evagination of the body surface, usually richly supplied with blood
1. the red flesh hanging below the beak of a fowl; wattle
2. the flesh under and about the chin and lower jaw of a person
any of the thin, leaflike, radiating plates on the undersurface of a mushroom, on which the basidiospores are produced

Origin: ME gile, prob. < Anglo-N < or akin to ON gjǫlnar, jaws, gills, older Dan (fiske) gaeln, Swed gäl < IE base *ghelunā-, jaw > Gr chelynē, lip, jaw

Related Forms:

gilled adjective

noun

a unit of liquid measure, equal to pint or 4 fluid ounces (0.11829375 liquid liter or 118.29375 milliliters): the British and Canadian imperial gill equals 0.1421 liquid liter: abbrev. gi

Origin: ME gille < OFr, measure for wine < LL gillo, cooling vessel

noun

Archaic a girl or woman; esp., a sweetheart

Origin: contr. of Gillian, proper name < L Juliana, fem. of Julianus: see Julian

noun

a wooded ravine or glen
a narrow stream; brook

Origin: ME gille < ON gil < IE base *ĝheri-, to gape > yawn, L hiatus

See gill in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

Zoology The respiratory organ of most aquatic animals that breathe water to obtain oxygen, consisting of a filamentous structure of vascular membranes across which dissolved gases are exchanged.
a. The wattle of a bird. Often used in the plural.
b. gills Informal The area around the chin and neck.
Botany One of the thin, platelike structures on the underside of the cap of a mushroom or similar fungus.

verb gilled gilled, gill·ing, gills

verb, transitive

To catch (fish) in a gill net.
To gut or clean (fish).

verb, intransitive

To become entangled in a gill net. Used of fish.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English gile, of Scandinavian origin

Related Forms:

gilled gilled adjective

noun Abbr. gi or gi.

A unit of volume or capacity in the U.S. Customary System, used in liquid measure, equal to ¹/₄ of a pint or four ounces (118 milliliters).
A unit of volume or capacity, used in dry and liquid measure, equal to ¹/₄ of a British Imperial pint (142 milliliters). See Table at measurement.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English gille

Origin: , from Old French, wine measure

Origin: , from Late Latin gillō, vessel for cooling liquids

noun
Chiefly British