gill
gill (gil)
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
- the red flesh hanging below the beak of a fowl; wattle
- 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
Etymology: 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
gill (jil)
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
Etymology: ME gille < OFr, measure for wine < LL gillo, cooling vessel
gill (jil)
noun
Archaic a girl or woman; esp., a sweetheart
Etymology: contr. of Gillian, proper name < L Juliana, fem. of Julianus: see Julian
gill (gil)
noun
- a wooded ravine or glen
- a narrow stream; brook
Etymology: ME gille < ON gil < IE base *ĝheri-, to gape > yawn, L hiatus
Preposition: of
- fish: Figure 6. How water is pumped through the gills of fish.
- beer: A few weeks ago, James had entered his house and ordered a gill of beer.
Converse of object
- have: Fish have gills to get the oxygen out of the water.
- clog: They then produce mucus which clogs there gills causing them to die.
- use: Their bodies are covered in scales and, like sharks, they use gills to get oxygen from water.
- cross: From the car park, take the footpath which runs up the side of Blease Gill, crossing the gill at the wooden footbridge.
- develop: Does the human fetus temporarily develop gills, a tail, and a yolk sac?
Adjective modifier
- feathery: On emerging from the egg, the tadpoles have feathery external gills.
- pale: White or pale straw gills radiate from the point of attachment where they may fork.
- external: The larvae have external gills, which absorb oxygen directly from the water.
- blue: Delicious with plenty visitors easy river blue gill speckled walked here in.
- red: Whole fish should have clear, bright eyes and bright red gills.
- brown: All these specimens had brown gills as shown in the photographs.
Modifies a noun
- raker: Great care must be taken to not damage the gill rakers.
- fluke: In large numbers both skin and gill flukes represent a serious threat to fish health.
- slit: Most fish have gill slits on the sides where the head joins the body.
- filament: Dactylogyrus 01 ( Gill fluke ) ( 212 kb ) A gill fluke on the edge of a gill filament at 100x magnification.
- net: Ghost fishing by lost cod gill nets in the Baltic Sea.
- arch: Can a greater amberjack ever have 23 gill rakers on the first gill arch?
Noun used with modifier
- monofilament: It was caught in a monofilament gill net off the southwest Coast of Guernsey in about 60 feet of water.
Browse dictionary entries near gill
- Gilgamesh
- Giles
- Gilead
- gilding
- Gilded Age
- Gilda
- gild
- Gilbert Islands
- gilbert
- Gila monster
- gill cleft
- gill fungus
- gill net
- gill slit
- Gillespie
- Gillette
- Gillian
- gillie
- gilliflower
- Gilsonite
