Gill Definition

gĭl
gills
noun
gills
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.
Webster's New World
The red flesh hanging below the beak of a fowl; wattle.
Webster's New World
The flesh under and about the chin and lower jaw of a person.
Webster's New World
Any of the thin, leaflike, radiating plates on the undersurface of a mushroom, on which the basidiospores are produced.
Webster's New World
A unit of volume or capacity in the US Customary System, used in liquid measure, equal to14 of a pint or four ounces (118 milliliters).
American Heritage
Synonyms:
verb
gills
To catch (fish) in a gill net.
American Heritage
To gut or clean (fish).
American Heritage
To become entangled in a gill net. Used of fish.
American Heritage
pronoun

A surname​.

Wiktionary
A male given name, in modern use often transferred back from the surname.
Wiktionary

(rare) A spelling variant of female given name Jill.

Wiktionary
idiom
to the gills
  • As full as possible; completely.
American Heritage
to the gills
  • to the point of being completely or completely full; thoroughly

    soaked to the gills, packed to the gills

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Gill

Noun

Singular:
gill
Plural:
gills

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Gill

Origin of Gill

  • From a Middle English diminutive form of Julian, Giles, and William. Also a Northern English topographic surname from Middle English gill (“ravine”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English gille from Old French wine measure from Late Latin gillō vessel for cooling liquids

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Old French gille (“a wine measure”), from Medieval Latin gillo (“earthenware jar”)

    From Wiktionary

  • From Middle English gile (“gill”), from Old Norse giolnar (“lips”)

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English gille from Gille a woman's name

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English gille from Old Norse gil

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Middle English gille, from Old Norse gil

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English gile of Scandinavian origin

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Gillingham.

    From Wiktionary

  • Etymology uncertain.

    From Wiktionary

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