gilln.1
/ɡɪl/, U.S. /ɡɪl/ 1.
a. Each of the paired organs of respiration in fishes, comprising a series of vascular sheets or filaments with a large surface area, situated in openings on each side of the pharynx through which water flows to the exterior; (in popular use also) the structure in which this is contained, including the openings and (in bony fishes) the gill-covers. Also: each of the paired respiratory organs of larval and some adult amphibians, formed of feathery branching filaments which extend to each side at the base of the head. Frequently in plural. Cf. branchiae n.In scientific use, now also applied more generally (as e.g. in quot. 1975) to the respiratory organs of aquatic animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate. Cf. also sense 1b.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > internal organs and systems > [noun] > lung or gill
gilla1325
branchiae1398
lung1889
pleurobranch1892
a1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesworth (Cambr.) (1929) 536 Si du pessohun trovez, Par les vemberges [glossed] gilles [a1325 Arun. giles, a1400 Paris gilleys, a1425 All Souls gilles vel finnes] le pernez.
c1400 (?c1380) Patience l. 269 He [sc. Jonah] glydes in by þe giles [of the whale] þurȝ glaymande glette.
a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Tobit vi. 4 Take thou his gile, ether iowe [a1382 E.V. fin; L. branchiam], and drawe hym to thee.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 194 Gylle of a fysche, branchia, senecia.
1519 W. Horman Vulgaria xxxii. f. 277v Fysshes breth at theyr gyllys.
1569 C. R. True Discription Marueilous Straunge Fishe (single sheet) Also it hath .v. gills of eache side of the head, shoing white as you see.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 237 They..suppose..that no fishes hauing guils, do draw in and deliuer their wind again to and fro.
1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall Digress. 370 Their Gills seem somewhat Analogous (as to their use) to Lungs.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 415 Leviathan..at his Gilles Draws in, and at his Trunck spouts out a Sea. View more context for this quotation
1709 W. King Misc. Prose & Verse 509 Till they, of farther Passage quite bereft, Were in the Mash with Gills entangl'd left.
1721 R. Bradley Philos. Acct. Wks. Nature 105 A Frog is a Fish in its Beginning, named Tadpole;..it respires by the Gills, which are Lungs peculiar to Fishes.
1813 H. Davy Elements Agric. Chem. v. 185 Atmospheric air taken into the lungs of animals, or passed in solution in water through the gills of fishes, loses oxygene.
1859 Househ. Encycl. II. 190/1 In order to discover whether they [sc. salmon] are fresh or stale take notice of the colour of the gills, which should be of a lively red.
1882 Pop. Sci. Monthly Apr. 743 In the axolotl, of Mexico, the six gills are somewhat arborescent.
1949 M. H. Lapham Crisscross Trails x. 137 In a shower of water and gravel I succeeded in getting my fingers in its gills and dragging it ashore.
1975 K. Schmidt-Nielsen Animal Physiol. i. 17 Increased flow can be achieved in two ways, either by moving the gill through the water, or by moving water over the gill.
2001 Technol. Rev. Dec. 86/1 Delicate ‘cleaner’ shrimp hop fearlessly into the mouth and gills of the first fish.
b. The respiratory organ of many aquatic invertebrates, widely varied in form but typically consisting of sheets or filaments of tissue over which water flows, either projecting from the body surface or enclosed within a chamber. Frequently in plural.See note at sense 1a.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > division Vermes > [noun] > member of (worm) > respiratory organs
gill1681
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > member of > parts of > respiratory organ
gill1681
1681 E. Tyson tr. J. Swammerdam Ephemeri Vita 12 For these parts are truly the Gills of this Worm.
1763 R. Brookes New Syst. Nat. Hist. III. xxvii*. 242 On each side there are six gills placed under the shell at the roots of the claws.
1834 E. Griffith et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom XII. 24 The Nudibranchiata have no shell, and have naked gills of divers forms, on some portion of the back.
1861 P. P. Carpenter Lect. Mollusca 171 They form two principal groups, (1) the Pectinibranchs, in which the gill is comb-shaped.., and (2) the Scutibranchs, in which the gills are in plates, like the bivalves.
1884 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon (at cited word) In Vermes many of the Chætopoda have external tufted gills attached to the dorsal parapoda.
1906 J. C. Thresh & A. E. Porter Preservatives in Food xx. 250 Mussels, from which the gills have been removed, have caused symptoms of poisoning.
1937 W. C. Allee & K. P. Schmidt Hesse's Ecol. Animal Geogr. iv. 44 Crustaceans with external gills enclosed in a gill chamber by the lateral parts of the cephalothorax can survive in the air for short periods, but only under favorable conditions of humidity.
1940 C. P. Clausen Entomophagous Insects 396 Many if not all representatives of this family [sc. larvae of Syrphidae (Diptera)] possess so-called rectal gills... Each gill consists of a pair of simple finger-like processes joined at the base.
2006 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 17 Dec. (Factor X section) 2/1 Christmas tree worms are tiny segmented worms whose gills look a bit like colourful pine trees.
2. With reference to people.† b. With allusion to the capture or holding of a fish by the gills. Obsolete.
a. In plural. The flesh under the jaws and ears; (also) the cheeks.Originally and frequently in phrases more fully dealt with elsewhere; see Phrases 1.
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the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > jowls > [noun]
jowlc1320
chokea1387
gill1573
1573 G. Gascoigne tr. Ariosto Supposes iv. iv, in Hundreth Sundrie Flowres 46 I thinke he be drunken... Sure he seemes so: see you not how redde he is about the gilles?
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §872 Anger..maketh both the Cheekes and the Gills Red.
1798 C. Smith Young Philosopher III. 274 ‘My dear Sir!’ replied Sir Appulby, in visible confusion, his fat gills quivering, and his swollen eye-lids twinkling [etc.].
1811 Lexicon Balatronicum Gills, the cheeks.
1894 G. Du Maurier Trilby (1895) 236 How red and coarse their ears and gills and cheeks grew, as they fed!
1962 R. Bradbury Something Wicked this Way Comes ii. 27 Hell never looked better. Here's souls sunk to their gills in slime. There's someone upside down, wrong-side out.
2016 Farmers Weekly (Electronic ed.) 2 Sept. 74 One of John's mates, James, turned up..reeking of parfum de diesel and with a curiously ruddy appearance around his gills.
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1589 J. Lyly Pappe with Hatchet 3 Martin beware your gilles, for Ile make you daunce at the poles end.
1599 J. Minsheu Pleasant Dialogues Spanish & Eng. 67 in R. Percyvall & J. Minsheu Spanish Gram. He throwes againe the dice, & he drew vp al, and so he left me hanging on the gill [margin As a fish], without a farthing.
a1627 W. Rowley & T. Middleton Wit at Severall Weapons ii. ii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Kkkkkk3/1 And when thou hast him by the amorous gills, Thinke on my vengeance.
3. With reference to other animals.
a. In plural: the wattles or dewlap of a turkey or other bird. Also (in singular): an expandable flap of brightly coloured skin below the throat of a reptile (chiefly Caribbean).
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > head and neck > [noun] > jowl
jowlc1320
gill1596
dewlap1600
the world > animals > birds > parts of or bird defined by > [noun] > neck or throat > appendage or pouch on
wattle1513
gill1596
rattles1611
gorget1703
pouch1774
parapatagium1887
palea1890
1596 T. Lodge Wits Miserie 73 He looks red in the gils like a Turkie cocke.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §852 The Turky-Cocke hath great and Swelling Gills, the Hen hath lesse.
1681 R. Knox Hist. Relation Ceylon 27 It is black with yellow gills about the bigness of a Black-Bird.
1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World v. 184 Here are also plenty of Guanoes and Carrion-crows, which, with their red gills..bear the exact resemblance of a Turkey.
1785 J. Trusler Mod. Times III. 18 Her face was as red as the gills of a turkey cock.
1792 W. Bartram Trav. N. & S. Carolina (new ed.) 276 They [sc. lizards] appear commonly of a fine green colour, having a large red gill under their throat.
1871 C. Darwin Descent of Man II. xiii. 98 Cock-fighters trim the hackles and cut off the combs and gills of their cocks.
1899 D. E. Salmon Dis. Poultry ii. 56 If the patient..becomes very sleepy with a dark bluish color of the comb and gills, mix fifteen drops of tincture of digitalis with on ounce of water.
1941 C. Goodchild & A. Thompson Keeping Poultry & Rabbits on Scraps 55 In ‘light’ breeds and crosses..the cockerel's comb and wattles (the fleshy gills underneath the beak) develop at a month.
1980 F. G. Cassidy & R. B. Le Page Dict. Jamaican Eng. (ed. 2) 197 Gill, the extensible, bright-coloured dewlap or ‘fan’ under a lizard's throat.
2013 J. A. R. A. M. van Hooff in W. R. Crozier & P. J. de Jong Psychol. Significance Blush v. 79 Well-known examples of the latter [sc. specially evolved structures for display] are the gills and dewlaps of gallinaceous birds.
b. The fur from the throat of a mink or marten, typically with a distinctive pale marking; this marking; fur coloured to resemble this. Now rare.
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1612 Bk. Customs & Valuation in A. Halyburton Ledger (1867) 307 Mertriks gylls, the timber.
1766 R. Brookes Art of Angling (new ed.) 59 Above all, the yellow Fur of the Martern, from off the Gills or Spots under the Jaws.
1831 Berrow's Worcester Jrnl. 13 Oct. (advt.) Also, a choice selection of Ermine, Sable, Chinchilli, Squirrel, Black Fitch, Sable Gill, and other rich Furs, in Muffs, Boas, and Pelerines.
1955 Life 26 Sept. 164/2 5,000 mink throats went into this mink gill coat... The spotting is natural since a mink often has a white mark on [its] throat.
1959 N.Y. Times 14 Feb. 25/8 Modest-priced fur coats often are made of the ‘fun furs’, such as monkey, mink gill, guanaco and hare.
4. Usually in plural. The thin, radiating plates or ribs arranged vertically in the underside of the cap of mushrooms and other fungi, chiefly of the order Agaricales.
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1672 M. Lister Let. 15 Nov. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1973) IX. 324 A perfectly round Cap or stool (as we vulgarly call it) thick in flesh & wth open Gills underneath.
1716 Philos. Trans. 1714–16 (Royal Soc.) 29 350 He could never find them to produce any Seed either in their Gills or other Parts.
1801 J. Sowerby Coloured Figures Eng. Fungi (1803) III. Tab. CCCXXII The whole plant is of a foxy brown, but the gills are paler and yellower.
1835 W. Kirby On Power of God in Creation of Animals I. v. 179 Channels, separated from each other by elevated processes resembling the gills of a mushroom.
1891 W. Falconer Mushrooms xxii. 152 Peel and stem the mushrooms, rub and sprinkle a little salt on the gills.
1914 Times 8 June 17/4 The gills of the cap are covered with small brown-black spores, from which the fungus is reproduced.
1947 F. A. Wolf & F. T. Wolf Fungi I. vii. 360 (caption) Diagrams representing the manner in which gills of mushrooms may be attached to the stipe.
2010 Church Times 8 Jan. 20/2 If you turn a toadstool upside down, you will notice that while most have gills radiating from the stalk, others may have tiny pores, or even soft spines.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [noun] > shirt > part of > collar > parts of
gills1826
1826 H. N. Coleridge Six Months W. Indies 253 Your shirt collars should be loose round the neck, and the gills low.
1851 Bell's Life in London 7 Dec. 8/2 She wore a bright brown polka jacket, huge gills with a crimson tie, a richly flowered white vest [etc.].
1870 Littell's Living Age 18 June 755/2 All that even Mr. Watts has made of Gladstone is a general impression of being choked in the white gills of his shirt collar.
1884 Daily Tel. 8 July 5/4 Lord Macaulay wore, to the close of his life, ‘stick-ups’, or gills.
6. Aeronautics. Chiefly in plural. In an aircraft with an air-cooled engine: each of a set of hinged flaps which cover air vents at the rear of the engine cowling, used to control the flow of cooling air.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > parts of aircraft > means of propulsion > [noun] > aircraft engine > cowling > flaps at rear of cowling
gill1937
1937 S.A.E. Trans. (Soc. Automotive Engineers) 32 451/1 In these installations, the exhaust system, removable cowling, and controllable gills, are standardized units, built into the aircraft.
1949 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) ii. 13 Gills, a set of movable flaps at the rear of a cowling to control the flow of air.
1971 D. N. James Gloster Aircraft 229 The engine was an 840 hp Bristol Mercury IX..with a leading-edge exhaust collector ring and controllable cooling gills.
2014 J. D'Angina Vought F4U Corsair 7 The SBU-1 Corsair was the first production aircraft to incorporate cowl gills/flaps.
Phrases
P1. With reference to changes in a person's complexion as an indicator of health or state of mind (see sense 2a).
a. red around the gills and variants: flushed due to drunkenness, anger, embarrassment, etc.
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1573 G. Gascoigne tr. Ariosto Supposes iv. iv, in Hundreth Sundrie Flowres 46 I thinke he be drunken... Sure he seemes so: see you not how redde he is about the gilles?
1673 M. Stevenson Norfolk Drollery 10 On either side, each Brimmer fills, Till they grew red about the Gills.
1843 Brother Jonathan 17 July 199/1 ‘Folks don't du me justice,’ sez he, a turning red in the gills, ‘No man ever had better or more devoted friends on arth.’
1902 Illustr. London News 24 Nov. 34/1 The crowd grinned to see John à Hall turning red in the gills.
2009 Birmingham Evening Mail (Nexis) 17 Apr. 33 Enough bad language to make even Love Actually's Richard Curtis go red around the gills.
b. blue around the gills and variants: bluish and unhealthy in appearance due to illness or low spirits.
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1665 R. Flecknoe Ænigmatical Characters (new ed.) viii. 11 Of a Fine Nice City Dame. She is one your Cockneys call a Beauty, because like a sick Turkey she looks a little blewish about the gills, and has a faint white Complexion of the colour of fletten milk.
1833 U.S. Tel. (Washington, D.C.) 12 Sept. Croswell looks blue about the gills, with some symptoms of mortification in the vicinity of the pocket.
1876 Musical World 15 Apr. 271/1 I don't wonder at their looking so blue about the gills. Such fisiky music is enuf to give 'em the molly grubs.
1934 J. M. Cain Postman always rings Twice vi. 48 From the way I was acting, you would have thought I had heart failure and a couple more things besides. I was plenty blue around the gills.
2017 Idaho Falls Post Reg. (Nexis) 22 Feb. Co-workers seem a bit more sullen—blue around the gills.
c. rosy about the gills and variants: glowing with health, ruddy, robust. Now somewhat rare.Cf. rosy gills n. at rosy adj. and n. Compounds 2.
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1681 J. Dryden Spanish Fryar ii. iii. 21 He saies he's but a Fryar, but he's big enough to be a Pope; his Gills are as rosie as a Turkey-Cock.]
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue at Gills To look rosy about the gills, to have a fresh complexion.
1844 People's Press (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 21 May Senator Wright, prematurely bald, but fresh and rosy about the gills as an Alderman.
1898 Manch. Weekly Times 12 Aug. 12/1 Your average Englishman only grumbles when he is not feeling rosy about the gills.
1934 Salt Lake Tribune 19 Jan. 4/2 Peaches Browning is rosy around the gills.
1966 Rotarian June 59/3 Just forget all your worries and ills;..You'll awake rosy about the gills.
d. white (also pale, yellow) around the gills and variants: pallid and unhealthy in appearance due to illness, nausea, fright, etc.
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1811 Sporting Mag. Dec. 103/2 [He] grew white about the gills.
1893 ‘Q’ Delectable Duchy 168 He..looked very yellow in the gills, though clearly convalescent.
1965 C. Himes Cotton comes to Harlem vii. 75 They were frustrated and dead beat... Anderson said..‘Go home and get some sleep.’ He looked white about the gills himself.
1989 J. Casey Spartina (1990) 170 Dick was about to take her down a notch by bringing up how pale around the gills she'd been on account of the sharks.
2011 Sentinel (Stoke) (Nexis) 17 June 18 Dan is lying in the hospital bed looking yellow around the gills.
e. green around (also about, at, in) the gills: see green adj. and n.1 Phrases 6.
P2. to the gills: to the point where no more can be taken; to capacity; to the utmost extent or limit; completely.Frequently with reference to consumption of and intoxication with drink or drugs; see also ripped to the gills at ripped adj. 4, stewed to the gills at stewed adj.1 c.
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1663 A. Cowley Cutter of Coleman-St. iv. vi. 48 I vex'd him to the Gills, Worm, when I put that bitter Bob o' the Baker upon him.
1881 Dubuque (Iowa) Daily News 3 May They realized before morning, no doubt, that it is not very pleasant after all to fill up to the gills with Bock beer.
1909 Los Angeles Sunday Times 26 Dec. ii. 3/1 Any place where genial strangers ‘soused to the gills’ can..buy a few drinks.
1943 Observer 3 Oct. 5/4 There had been times when the liner had been filled with troops to the gills.
1965 Times 5 June 5/5 Many of us..feel stuffed to the gills with political and sociological round-tables and topical magazines.
1978 Lima (Ohio) News 15 Mar. c3/1 I've been on the telephone for four, five days and I'm fed up to the gills.
1990 Herald (Melbourne) (Nexis) 16 Aug. You'd have to be a wide-eyed kid or coked to the gills to actually enjoy a plane ride.
2016 E. Harrison Escaping Perfect v. 70 Along the far wall..were five huge bookcases all packed to the gills with books.
Compounds
C1. General attributive (in sense 1), as gill artery, gill-branch, gill-muscle, gill-tuft, gill vein, etc.
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the world > animals > fish > parts of fish > [noun] > gill(s) or parts of
ginnle?c1475
gill vein1683
arista1691
radius1691
fish-ear1748
operculum1752
flap1803
opercle1808
subopercle1822
preoperculum1828
preopercule1842
preopercular1851
interoperculum1855
preoperclec1857
raker1903
1683 S. Pordage tr. T. Willis Two Disc. Soul of Brutes i. iii.15 They are bony semi-circles, planted on both sides of the bottom of the Mouth, nigh to the opening of the Gill holes.
1769 J. Berkenhout Outl. Nat. Hist. Great Brit. & Ireland I. 82 Teeth in the jaws and tongue. Gill-rays 8.
1813 J. Laskey Gen. Acct. Hunterian Mus. 56 The Heart of a Cod...—The veins coming into the auricle have a valve, the ventricle has a pair, and the gill artery has a pair.
1827 R.T. Gore tr. C. G. Carus Introd. Compar. Anat. Animals II. 28 We find in it the seat of the respiratory organ, (little gill-laminæ, to be hereafter described).
1839–47 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. III. 507/2 In some fishes..the gill-muscles are red.
1843 W. B. Carpenter Pop. Cycl. Nat. Sci.: Animal Physiol. vi. 250 A similar action goes on, still more energetically, on the gill-tufts of the Annelida.
1879 tr. E. Haeckel Evol. Man I. x. 280 At a very early period the intestinal tube is divided into a gill-intestine and a stomach-intestine.
1881 Nature 8 Dec. 136/2 The theory which considers the limbs with their girdles to be transformed and translocated gill-branch elements.
1911 E. S. Talbot Developmental Pathol. iv. 38 The arterial branches of the gill region..pass directly into the dorsal vessel only in young fishes; later they furnish the branchial circulation of gill arteries, gill capillaries, and gill veins.
1990 J. M. Stefano & G. B. Stefano in G. B. Stefano Neurobiol. Mytilus Edulis x. 165 The mantle and the lateral gill lamina from the right side of each animal were excised.
1991 R. S. K. Barnes & K. H. Mann Fund. Aquatic Ecol. (ed. 2) x. 207/2 Studies of mussels from beds adjacent to the seeps showed that they had intracellular bacteria in their gill tissues.
2007 Compar. Biochem. & Physiol. A. 147 146/1 This crab possesses eight, laterally disposed gill pairs, arranged as two arthrobranchiae and six pleurobranchiae.
C2. Objective and instrumental (in senses 1 and 4), as gill-bearing, gill-breathing, gill-covering, etc.
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1769 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) III. iv. 30 Which bones are called the Radii Branchiostegi, or the Gill-covering Rays.
1829 Mag. Nat. Hist. 1 363 (table) Animals. Gill-breathing. Fish.
1844 W. S. W. Ruschenberger Elements Herpetol. & Ichthyol. Gloss. 131/2 Branchifera, gill-bearing. Systematic name of a family of batrachians.
1871 M. C. Cooke Plain & Easy Acct. Brit. Fungi 125 Order I.—Agaricini. Gill-bearing Fungi.
1908 F. R. Lillie Devel. of Chick 178 The portion of the pharynx that includes the visceral pouches may be called the branchial portion, because it is homologous to the gill-bearing portion in fishes and amphibia.
1911 G. Smith Primitive Animals vi. 107 The higher land Vertebrates..have preserved in their development the abbreviated history of their gill-possessing ancestors.
1946 M. C. Rayner in F. Sykes Humus & Farmer xiii. 100 Their sporophores are the common toadstools of woodlands and forests. They belong to the Hymenomycetes, many to the same gill-bearing family as the common mushroom.
1992 R. G. Boutilier et al. in M. E. Feder & W. W. Burggren Environm. Physiol. Amphibians v. 89/1 Gill-breathing urodeles such as Ambystoma also risk losing O2 to hypoxic water.
2008 B. Schutt Dark Banquet ix. 274 These integumentary teeth or odontodes..are found in patches around the candiru's head (including their own gill-covering opercular and interopercular bones).
2010 tr. M. Laurin How Vertebr. left Water iii. 60 Among arachnids, the gill-bearing legs have fused to the ventral surface of the abdomen and the gills have been modified into lungs.
C3. † gill-stone n. Obsolete rare a fossil (not identified; perhaps a type of fossil coral).
gill arch n. each of the series of bony or cartilaginous curved bars placed along either side of the pharynx and supporting the gills of fishes and aquatic amphibians; (also) each of the structures which represent or are homologous with these during the early embryonic development of all chordates, including higher vertebrates (cf. gill bar n.).
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1820 Ann. Philos. 16 103 Dr. Leach is further of the opinion that those bones in fishes, which are named by Geoffroy the anterior and posterior thyreal and arythyreal, which support the gill arches, are in fact sternal bones.
1879 tr. E. Haeckel Evol. Man I. ix. 266 These vascular gill-arches pass along the gill-openings, and directly accomplish respiration.
1939 T. L. Green Pract. Animal Biol. i. 105 (caption) Structure of the gill arch of a dogfish.
2008 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 20 Nov. 67/3 We humans retain, for example, the remnants of gill arches, much modified, from our fishy ancestors.
gill bar n. each of the parts of the pharynx wall between the gill slits of an aquatic chordate, bearing the gills; (in fishes and aquatic amphibians) a gill arch; (also) each of the structures which represent or are homologous with these during the early embryonic development of all chordates, including higher vertebrates.
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1877 Nature 16 Aug. 310/2 It is also of deep significance..to observe the increase in the number of the gill-bars and apertures as we descend in the scale to the cartilaginous fishes and lampreys.
1990 V. A. Harris Sessile Animals of Sea Shore viii. 141 Ascidians generate a current of water through the body by means of lateral cilia on the gill bars.
2000 D. Bainbridge Visitor Within iii. 146 The human embryo's gill bars and the grooves that separate them are used to make a wide variety of different structures in the human head and neck.
gill basket n. (in various aquatic animals) a concave framework which encloses or supports the gills.
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the world > animals > fish > superclass Agnatha > [noun] > order Cyclostomata or Marsipobranchi > member of > part of
gill basket1878
1878 A. Macalister Introd. Systematic Zool. & Morphol. Vertebr. Animals viii. 62 (caption) Skull, Gill-basket, and Vertebral Column of Lamprey.
1917 R. J. Tillyard Biol. Dragonflies ix. 184 The total number of capillaries in the gill-basket of Anax reaches 100,000 or more.
1922 J. G. Needham et al. Biol. Surv. Lake George, N.Y. iii. 29 I used constantly through the summer a plankton net of No. 6 silk bolting cloth, whose mesh was approximately the same as that of the whitefish's gill basket.
1996 H. Gee Before Backbone i. 53 The delicate, much-subdivided tunicate gill-basket is enclosed within an ‘extra’ body wall or tunic, the structure that gives its name to the group.
2008 Physiol. & Biochem. Zool. 81 312/2 Both gill baskets were dissected from the fish and cleaned of excess cartilage and skin.
gill book n. each of the respiratory organs of a horseshoe crab (order Xiphosura), comprising a large number of parallel leaves or folds of tissue carried on five pairs of flap-like appendages on the underside of the rear body segment (cf. book gill n. at book n. Compounds 3, lung book n. at lung n. Compounds 2).
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1881 E. R. Lankester in Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. 21 541 The lamellæ of the gill-books of Limulus are..delicate flattened bags with a setose free border.
1932 L. A. Borradaile & F. A. Potts Invertebrata xv. 445 The gill books are stated to be the most primitive respiratory organs.
2005 B. K. Hall Bones & Cartilage iv. 53/1 As with all invertebrate cartilages, gill book cartilages are unmineralized.
gill-breather n. an animal that breathes using gills.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > member of
shellfishc888
sea-gar1674
gill-breather1828
crustacean1834
sea-insect1860
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > internal organs and systems > [noun] > lung or gill > that breathes by gills
gill-breather1828
gill-bearer1872
1828 Q. Jrnl. Sci. & Arts Apr. 398 Of the branchiata or gill-breathers, the fish..show their connexion with the other vertebrata by their location in that part of the circle, where the aquatic pulmonata approach them.
1927 Illustr. London News 6 Aug. 244/1 It is easy enough to show that the whale is not a fish. For the fish is a gill-breather... The whale, on the other hand, being a mammal, is a lung-breather.
2016 Fisheries 41 410/2 Many tropical fish species are obligatory air breathers; others facultatively breathe air, but the great majority are gill breathersand depend on dissolved oxygen.
gill cavity n. a cavity or compartment in which a gill is contained; spec. (in bony fishes) the space behind the jaw enclosed by the opercula (gill covers) on either side and the branchiostegal membrane below.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > internal organs and systems > [noun] > lung or gill > gill cavity
gill cavity1822
gill chamber1842
1822 J. Fleming Philos. Zool. II. 347 The gill cavities [of the lamprey] seem but ill fitted for the continued absorption, circulation, and ejection of the water by the same orifice, such as our author supposes.
1947 Commerc. Salmon-fisheries Brit. Columbia (Dept. Fisheries, Brit. Columbia) (rev. ed.) 44 After dressing, a liberal quantity of coarse salt is placed in the body and gill cavities.
2011 Jrnl. Parasitol. 97 14/2 The skin, fins, mouth, and gill cavity were checked for ectoparasites.
gill chamber n. = gill cavity n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > internal organs and systems > [noun] > lung or gill > gill cavity
gill cavity1822
gill chamber1842
1842 Lobster (Relig. Tract. Soc.) i. 7 The gill-chambers freely admit the water by a wide opening.
1989 R. T. Bauer in B. E. Felgenhauer et al. Functional Morphol. Feeding & Grooming in Crustacea 55 Decapod crustaceans often reverse the respiratory flow to flush the gill chamber.
2008 J. B. Jensen et al. Amphibians & Reptiles Georgia 32/2 Tadpoles..breathe by taking water into the mouth, passing it over internal gills, and then expelling it from the gill chamber through a small opening called a spiracle.
gill cleft n. = gill slit n.
ΚΠ
1845 W. B. Macdonald tr. F. H. Troschel in Rep. Progress Zool. & Bot. (Ray Soc.) 153 Calophysus..wide gill clefts [Ger. Kiemenspalten]; no teeth in palate.
1890 Dublin Rev. Oct. 448 Certain gill-clefts in the embryos of higher animals.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xviii. 489 In Hypogeophis from the Seychelles the aquatic stage is skipped, and the gill-clefts are closed before hatching.
2006 Jrnl. Vertebr. Paleontol. 26 8/2 Rows of denticle-bearing branchial platelets are visible posterior to the skull, indicating open gill clefts in the living animal.
gill comb n. [perhaps after German Kammkieme (1835 or earlier)] now rare (in molluscs) an organ consisting of a series of filaments borne on an axis suspended within the mantle cavity; = ctenidium n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > mollusc or shell-fish > parts of mollusc
ungulaa1382
mantlea1475
trunk1661
diaphragm1665
lid1681
operculum1681
ear1688
beard1697
corslet1753
scar1793
opercle1808
pleura1826
pallium1834
byssus1835
cephalic ganglia1835–6
opercule1836
lingual ribbon1839
tube1839
cloak1842
test1842
collar1847
testa1847
rachis1851
uncinus1851
land-shell1853
mantle cavity1853
mesopodium1853
propodium1853
radula1853
malacology1854
gill comb1861
pallial cavity1862
tongue-tootha1877
mesopode1877
odontophore1877
pallial chamber1877
shell-gland1877
rasp1879
protopodium1880
ctenidium1883
osphradium1883
shell-sac1883
tooth-ribbon1883
megalaesthete1885
rachidian1900
scungille1953
tentacle-sheath-
1861 P. P. Carpenter Lect. Mollusca 60 The gill-comb is extremely long.
1883 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 636/1 These are the ctenidia or gill-combs. Usually..they play the part of gills, but..in many Molluscs (Lamellibranchs) their function is not mainly respiratory.
2000 S. Kinsey tr. P. Ax Multicellular Animals II. 12 The Caudofoveata are plesiomorphous in being gonochoristic organisms and in possessing two gill combs (ctenidia) in the mantle cavity.
gill cover n. (in bony fishes) the movable bony plate covering and protecting the gills (cf. operculum n. 1b).
ΚΠ
1769 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) III. iv. 211 The edges of the gill-covers serrated.
1872 H. A. Nicholson Man. Palæontol. 310 The only portions of the skull which require special mention are the bones which form the gill-cover or operculum.
1966 A. Maar et al. Fish Culture in Central E. Afr. viii. 135 Anyone looking at fish in an aquarium will notice that the gill covers open and close in a regular rhythm.
2006 Nature 6 Apr. 748/2 The tetrapod middle ear has arisen as a modification of the fish spiracle (a small gill slit) and hyomandibula (a bone supporting the gill cover).
gill filament n. a thin sheet of tissue forming part of a gill; spec. (in fishes) each of the series of flattened vascular structures projecting from the gill arches and bearing smaller gill lamellae; (in molluscs) any of the array of parallel sheets of thin tissue of which a gill lamella is composed.
ΚΠ
1830 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 10 110 (key to figure) A, The extremity of one of the gill filaments magnified.
1930 H. G. Newth Marshall & Hurst's Junior Course Pract. Zool. (ed. 11) vii. 101 Each lamella is formed of very numerous vertical gill-filaments and horizontal bars, united to form a kind of trellis-work with very small meshes.
1997 G. S. Helfman et al. Diversity of Fishes v. 53 (caption) The gill arches of a fish support the gill filaments (also called the primary lamellae) and form a curtain through which water passes as it moves from the buccal cavity to the opercular cavity.
2009 R. L. Kotpal Mod. Textbk. Zool.: Invertebr. (ed. 10) 747/2 The notches of the successive gill filaments [sc. in the mussel] line up to form a longitudinal food groove which runs along the ventral edge of the lamina.
gill fin n. a pectoral fin.
ΚΠ
1676 C. Cotton Compl. Angler xii. 100 A Bull-head, with his Guill-fins cut off.
1740 R. Brookes Art of Angling ii. xliv. 162 The Piper... Below the Gill-Fins there are three Excrescences, which some call Fingers.
1833 J. E. Alexander Transatlantic Sketches I. iii. 48 In the dry season this singular fish [i.e. an armoured catfish]..has been dug out of the ground.., for it burrows in the rains, owing to the strength and power of the spine and gill-fin.
1991 A. Kenny Before Wax Hardened vi. 69 He hung halfway up the white fall, threshing his tail and beating his gill fins like wings, but fell back down into the foam.
gill fishing n. originally U.S. fishing with a gill net.
ΚΠ
1854 J. W. Alexander Life A. Alexander ix. 217 A law of this State of New Jersey inflicts a heavy pecuniary mulct on one who is engaged in ‘gill-fishing,’ but does not define what sort of fishing this is.
1912 Boston Sunday Post 4 Aug. 36/2 Off Gloucester, gill fishing has become very popular and this method was introduced by fishermen from the Great Lakes.
2001 Independent (Nexis) 18 Mar. 2 Local practices, including..off-shore gill fishing, are steadily eroding their [sc. leatherback turtles] numbers.
gill fissure n. = gill slit n.
ΚΠ
1857 Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 1852–7 3 65 The gill fissures are usually in advance of the pectorals.
1904 J. McCabe tr. E. Haeckel Wonders of Life x. 288 In these [sc. the enteropneusts] the fore-gut or head-gut is converted into a gill-organ, the wall of which is pierced with gill-fissures.
2008 Gene Expression Patterns 8 513/1 40 somites, brain, stomach, gut, kidney ducts and the first gill fissure are already formed.
gill flap n. (a) (in bony fishes) the branchiostegal membrane, which encloses the underside of the gill chamber (cf. gill membrane n.); (occasionally also) the gill cover or operculum; (b) a flap of tissue bearing a gill, as in the gill book of a horseshoe crab.
ΚΠ
1785 A. Monro Struct. & Physiol. Fishes 104 (key to figure) B, The gill flap.
1854 C. D. Badham Prose Halieutics 241 A palm-tree, which it climbed by hooking its spinous gill-flaps into the inequalities of the bark.
1901 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1900 353 The posterior and lower margins of the operculum form a small fleshy gill-flap.
1913 Jrnl. Biol. Chem. 14 p. xl Attached to the gill flaps of limulus are rods of cartilage-like tissue.
1977 Jrnl. Paleontol. 51 Suppl. 5 Limbs on the posterior thorax bear gills in which the filaments are attached to a gill flap and represent a type from which a Limulus-gill could have derived.
2016 A. Schloss & D. Joachim Williams-Sonoma Grill School 122/1 Looking more closely at the head of the fish, lift the gill flaps at the back of the head and inspect the spongy gills inside.
gill-footed adj. having gills attached to the legs or other appendages; spec. belonging to the crustacean class Branchiopoda, in members of which this feature is characteristic (cf. branchiopodous adj. at branchiopod n. Derivatives).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [adjective] > belonging to Phyllopoda > relating to Branchiopoda
gill-footed1832
branchiopodous1835
1832 H. McMurtrie tr. G. Cuvier Animal Kingdom (abridged ed.) 317 Order Branchiopoda. [Note] Gill-footed.
1903 J. R. A. Davis Nat. Hist. Animals II. viii. 421 Gill-footed Phyllopods possess a special interest, since they not improbably present many of the characters distinguishing the ancestral stock from which all the different groups of Crustacea are descended.
2000 T. Foskett tr. R. Folch et al. Encycl. Biosphere IV. 152/2 The macro-invertebrates considered most characteristic of the episodic freshwaters of hot deserts are branchiopod crustaceans, or the gill-footed shrimps.
gill lamella n. a thin sheet of tissue forming part of a gill; spec. (in molluscs) a flattened array of gill filaments; (in fishes) each of the small flattened plates projecting from the surface of a gill filament and increasing its surface area.
ΚΠ
1870 G. Rolleston Forms Animal Life 65 The middle segment is formed temporarily into a closed canal, by the apposition of the inner gill-lamella to the visceral mass.
1958 J. E. Morton Molluscs ix. 175 The best-known British representative of the Arminacea is the..Pleurophyllidia, with secondary gill-lamellae crowded beneath the mantle skirt.
2010 Physiol. & Biochem. Zool. 83 932/2 If a fish leaves water (emersion), its gill lamellae collapse because of the surface tension at the air-water interface.
gill leaf n. a flattened layer of tissue forming part of a gill; a gill lamina or gill lamella.
ΚΠ
1854 P. H. Gosse Nat. Hist.: Mollusca 221 In a sort of hood formed by the union of the gill-leaves at their basal part, is placed the entrance of the stomach.
1910 Amer. Naturalist 44 354 In this manner each gill-leaf becomes split into outer and inner lamellae of similar structure.
2014 Cladistics 30 610/2 There are five non-retractile tripinnate gill leaves.
gill leaflet n. a flattened layer of tissue forming part of a gill.
ΚΠ
1853 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 11 291 Line dividing the two portions of the gill-leaflet.
1940 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 129 136 (descr. plate) Transverse section of part of two gill leaflets of Maia squinado.
2009 M. W. Nolan & S. A. Smith in J. T. Tanacredi et al. Biol. & Conservation Horseshoe Crabs 487 Each book gill..is composed of numerous gill leaflets.
gill lid n. now rare = gill cover n.
ΚΠ
1822 J. Fleming Philos. Zool. II. 344 The organs of respiration in fishes consist of four parts, a gill-lid, a gill-flap, the gill-opening, and the gills themselves.
1841 Irish Penny Jrnl. 1 247/1 There are two imperfect gills without the arch, which join the gill lid, and appear to regulate its motions.
2011 Animal Behaviour 81 316/1 We recorded for each fish the number of restrained (raising fins, lifting gill lids,..and s-shaped bending) and overt aggressive behaviours.
gill membrane n. (a) (in bony fishes) the branchiostegal membrane, which encloses the underside of the gill chamber (cf. gill flap n. (a)); (b) Physiology a membrane forming the functional surface of a gill across which substances diffuse.
ΚΠ
1769 J. Berkenhout Outl. Nat. Hist. Great Brit. & Ireland I. 68 Gill-membrane has 7 rays.
1856 tr. J. J. Kaup Catal. Apodal Fish Brit. Mus. 63 A narrow line along the middle of the throat connects a series of the small specks, and the folds of the gill-membrane are traced on each side by similar lines.
1984 J. C. Rankin & L. Bolis in W. S. Hoar & D. J. Randall Fish Physiol. X. b. vi. 196 Fish gill membranes..would make excellent model systes for the study of the relationships between permeability and phospholipid fluidity, were it not for the practical problems involved.
2009 Copeia No. 4. 686/2 Gill membranes united to isthmus.
gill opening n. an opening through which water passes into, over, or out of a gill.
ΚΠ
1804 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. V. i. 99 Gill-openings very shallow and small.
1846 Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. New Ser. 2 412 A broad scarlet-red stripe beneath the lateral line, extending from the gill-opening to the anal fin.
1931 E. G. Boulenger Fishes xvi. 139 The Toad Fishes (Batrachidæ) are small tropical and temperate fishes with broad, flat heads and reduced gill openings.
2001 D. Burnie Kingfisher Illustr. Dinosaur Encycl. 42/1 Jamoytius belonged to a group of fish called anaspids, which had over a dozen gill openings, arranged like port holes in the side of a ship.
gill plume n. a gill consisting of a series or array of parallel or diverging filaments resembling a feather, as in molluscs and tube worms.In quot. 1854: spec. the ctenidium or gill comb.
ΚΠ
1854 P. H. Gosse Nat. Hist.: Mollusca 207 The gill-plume is single.
1860 J. Harper Glimpses Ocean Life xiv. 229 This peculiarity is not evident..when the Doris is lying in a passive state, with all its gill-plumes closed up.
1996 M. Snyderman & C. Wiseman Guide Marine Life: Caribbean, Bahamas, Florida viii. 85/2 Divers usually notice the sedentary polychaetes when they see the colorful, feather-like gill plumes.
2010 Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 61 625 The gill plume [of the nudibranch Okenia felis] is opaque white, with 3 bipinnate branches.
gill pore n. a small rounded gill opening, esp. that between the gill pouch and the exterior in acorn worms.
ΚΠ
1879 tr. E. Haeckel Evol. Man I. xiii. 425 On each side of this ventral seam, on the inner surface of the gill-roofs, directly in front of the gill-pore (porus branchialis) [Ger. Kiemenloch]..lie the kidneys of the Amphioxus.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVI. 85/1 Each gill-slit may be said to open into its own..gill-pouch; this in its turn opens to the exterior by a minute gill-pore.
1967 P. A. Meglitsch Invertebr. Zool. xii. 427/1 The gill pores are usually guarded by sphincter muscles.
2016 N. Satoh Chordate Origins & Evol. vi. 86 (caption) Four transcription factor genes in a cluster are expressed in the pharyngeal/foregut endoderm of juvenile Saccoglossus. (a) Nkx2.1 is expressed in a band of endoderm at the level of the developing gill pore.
gill raker n. each of a series of cartilaginous or bony projections on the inner side of a fish's gill arch which protect the gill filaments and filter particles of food from the water; cf. raker n.1 4b.
ΚΠ
1862 A. Günther Catal. Fishes Brit. Mus. IV. 343 The first branchial arch is provided anteriorly with long gill-rakers.
1970 Nature 24 Oct. 323/2 These fish use their gill rakers to strain off the minute animals such as harpacticoid copepods.
2000 Dive Nov. 39/1 The shark swims with its mouth open wide..and the water flows over a series of hair-like strainers called gill rakers, before continuing over the gills and out through the gill slits.
gill sac n. a sac or cavity formed by or enclosing a gill; esp. = gill pouch n. 1.
ΚΠ
1827 R. T. Gore tr. C. G. Carus Introd. Compar. Anat. Animals II. 146 Even in a very small individual [ascidian] I found the Gill-sac occupied by a punger (Cancer pagurus) scarcely less than half its own size.
1843 R. Hamilton Nat. Hist. Brit. Fishes (Naturalist's Libr.: Ichthyol. IV) I. 285 In a state of repose, and when the fish does not inflate its throat or gill-sacs, the head is two-fifths the length of the body, and is somewhat broader.
1979 E. J. W. Barrington in M. H. Wake Hyman's Compar. Vertebr. Anat. (ed. 3) iii. 59 The gill slits do not open directly to the outside in most enteropneusts; instead, each leads into a pouch, the gill sac, that opens externally by the gill pore.
2008 Q. Bone & R. H. Moore Biol. Fishes (ed. 3) v. 129 (caption) Horizontal section of right gill sacs in Myxine..showing..common outflow.
ΚΠ
1708 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 26 78 Branchiale, The Gill-stone.
Derivatives
ˈgill-like adj.
ΚΠ
1792 W. Withering Bot. Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 2) III. 281 The expansion of the hollow stem at its top supplying the place of a pileus, and bearing the Gill-like veins on its outer side.
1858 C. Girard Gen. Rep. Zool.: Fishes (U.S. War Dept.: Rep. Explor. Route to Pacific X.) iv. 112 The pseudobranchiae are gill-like and conspicuous.
1958 J. E. Morton Molluscs i. 27 A living monoplacophoran, with five serial pairs of gill-like organs.
2018 Ottawa Sun (Nexis) 8 Mar. d6 Styling alterations on the Quadrifoglio [sc. a motor car] are rather stealthy, with the only things giving away its higher performance..being gill-like vents in the lower fascia.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
gilln.2
/dʒɪl/, U.S. /dʒɪl/ 1. A measure of capacity for liquids, varying with locality and time, spec. (a) a quarter of a pint (in Britain, 5 imperial fl. oz., approx. 0.142 litre; in the United States, 4 U.S. fl. oz., approx. 0.118 litre); (b) Scottish and English regional (northern) half a pint (approx. 0.284 litre). Also: this amount of liquid, esp. a drink of beer or another alcoholic beverage.Also occasionally as a measure of capacity for tin ore (see quot. 1602).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > the scientific measurement of volume > measure(s) of capacity > [noun] > liquid measure of capacity > specific units of liquid measure > gill
gillc1390
joucat1587
Jackc1736
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > base metal > [noun] > tin > measure of tin
foot1602
gill1602
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. v. 191 Til Gloten hedde I-gloupet A Galoun and a gille.
1572 J. Jones Bathes of Bathes Ayde iv. f. 31 Take the cleare whey of milke..mingling therwith honie, and suger, or els decocte them, and drink the quantitie of a Gill, or a pinte fasting, eschuing the bath for that daie.
1590 in W. Greenwell Wills & Inventories Registry Durham (1860) II. 199 For j gyll of veolarium 5s. 4d.
1602 R. Carew Surv. Cornwall i. f. 13v They measure their blacke Tynne, by the Gill, the Topliffe, the Dish and the Foote, which containeth a pint, a pottell, a gallon, and towards two gallons.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 339/1 Gill or Quadran, is 4 to a pint.
1695 Laws & Acts 5th Session 1st Parl. William & Mary (Scotl.) c. 21. 39 Toppers and Retailers in smalls, who sell Brandy by Pints, Gills, and lesser Quantities than Pints in Taverns, Shops, Cellars, and the like, where the same is immediatly consumed.
1705 J. Addison Play-house in New Coll. Poems State Affairs 488 Till freed at length, he..to some peaceful Brandy-Shop retires, Where in full Gills his anxious Thoughts he drowns.
1773 J. Boswell Jrnl. 20 Sept. in Jrnl. Tour Hebrides (1785) 281 Each man called for his own half-pint of wine, or gill, if he pleased.
1824 T. Carlyle Let. 20 Dec. in Coll. Lett. T. & J. W. Carlyle (1970) III. 232 His [sc. Irving's] philosophy with me is like a gill of ditch-water thrown into the crater of Mount Ætna.
1859 W. Rickard Miner's Man. Arithm. & Surv. 39 Find the quantity of black tin in 100 sacks, of 18 gallons, of tin stuff, when a gill produces 1 dwt.
1862 D. T. Ansted & R. G. Latham Channel Islands App. B. 576 The smaller divisions are into pots (half-gallon), quarts, pints, gills (quarter of a pint), and noggins (an eighth of a pint).
1867 B. Brierley Marlocks of Merriton 15 Several of the company drank up their ‘gills’ with the evident intention of ordering fresh ones.
1940 Brit. Red Cross Soc. Cookery & Catering Man. (ed. 4) x. 107 (heading) Peptonized Milk. Put 1 pt. milk and 1 gill water into an enamelled saucepan.
1977 G. Todd Geordie Words & Phrases 20 Gill, half-pint of beer. ‘Aa'll just hev a gill’ = ‘I will just have a half-pint’.
2001 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 22 Dec. 1439/1 In the United Kingdom a single pub measure of spirits is now 25 ml (it was 1/6th gill (1/24th pint) in England and 1/4 gill in Scotland).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > vessel > [noun] > vessel of specific size or capacity
quart?c1335
kenning1344
pint1354
quart pot1383
gill?c1425
quartelet1459
?c1425 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1865) III. 89 De iij ollis potell,..j gyll, et vj quarts.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 194 Gylle, lytylle pot, gilla, vel gillus.
1789 Oracle 6 Aug. The following prisoners in Ousebridge gaol..found guilty of stealing a silver three-gill tankard and two silver gills.
1810 W. B. Rhodes Bombastes Furioso iv. 19 Oh, was I a quart, pint or gill, To be scrubb'd by her delicate hands.
1864 London Gaz. No. 1989/4 Several Silver Spoons mark'd T.J.M., a Silver Gill with the same Letters.
1925 Vogue Nov. 86/1 (caption) Pewter inkwell..; pewter sand shaker..; and pewter gill..to stick pens or quill in.
Compounds
C1. General attributive, in sense ‘having a capacity of one gill (sense 1)’, as gill-glass, gill-stoup, etc. Now historical and rare.
ΚΠ
1673 J. Dryden Marriage a-la-Mode iii. i. 35 Who..opens her dear bottle of Mirabilis beside, for a Jill-glass of it at parting.
1800 Spirit of Public Jrnls. 1799 III. 349 With a bottle of gin in her right hand, and a gill glass in her left.
1822 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 310/1 The change-wife's gill-stoup is full cousin to the spirit-dealer's gallon-pot.
1886 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 9 Feb. 3/7 Crossland came in drunk, and..he threw a gill mug at the settle.
1933 Manch. Guardian 21 Oct. 10/7 You can get a gill pot of ginger pop on draught for one penny.
1974 Hattiesburg (Mississippi) Amer. 16 June (Mississippi Living section) 5 d/3 Quarts, pints, half-pints, gill and half-gill glasses for the special ale of the period.
C2.
gill-bells n. historical in later use the 11.30 a.m. ringing of bells from St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, taken as a signal by many residents of the city to retire for an alcoholic drink; cf. meridian n. 2d.
ΚΠ
1721 A. Ramsay Poems I. 192 Half an Hour before Twelve at Noon, when the Musick Bells begin to play, frequently called the Gill-Bells.
1894 ‘H. Haliburton’ Furth in Field 103 Edinburgh had their mid-day dram of strong waters on the stroke of the ‘gill-bells’ of St Giles'.
1918 North-China Herald 18 May 406/3 Daily at half-past eleven the ‘gill-bells’ rang from St. Giles to call the citizens to their ‘meridian’, which consisted of a gill of brandy or a glass of ale.
2004 R. Graham Great Infidel (2006) ix. 206 The bells of St Giles rang at 11.30—the ‘gill-bells’—when the citizenry had their second drink of the day.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† gilln.3
Obsolete.
1. A coarse garment.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > [noun] > garment or article of
raileOE
i-wedeOE
reafOE
shroudc1000
weedOE
back-cloth?c1225
hatter?c1225
clouta1300
coverturec1300
garment1340
vesturec1384
clothc1385
vestmentc1386
jeryne?a1400
clothinga1425
gilla1438
raiment1440
haterella1450
vestimenta1500
indumenta1513
paitclaith1550
casceis1578
attire1587
amice1600
implements1601
cladment1647
enduement1650
vest1655
body garment1688
wearable1711
sledo1719
rag1855
number1894
opaque1903
daytimer1936
a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 62 (MED) They cuttyd hir gown so schort þat it come but lytil be-nethyn hir kne & dedyn hir don on a whyte canwas in maner of a sekkyn gelle.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 194 Gylle, fowle clothe [1499 Pynson fulclothe], melota, vel melotes.
2. A kind of fur.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > parts of clothing > [noun] > trimmings or ornamentation > fur > types of
gill1445
fur1637
1445 in W. Brown Yorks. Deeds (1922) 8 (MED) [To..my servant a doublet (duplitecam) of skins of] gelle.
1452 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1865) III. 135 (MED) j togae furratae cum geles.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
gilln.4
/ɡɪl/, U.S. /ɡɪl/, Scottish English /ɡɪl/ Chiefly English regional (chiefly northern) and Scottish.
1. A deep rocky cleft or ravine, usually wooded and forming the course of a stream.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > valley > [noun] > gorge or ravine
cloughc1330
heugha1400
straitc1400
gillc1440
gulfa1533
gull1553
gap1555
coomb1578
gullet1600
nick1606
goyle1617
gully1637
nullah1656
ravine1687
barrancaa1691
kloof1731
ravin1746
water gap1756
gorge1769
arroyo1777
quebrada1787
rambla1789
flume1792
linn1799
cañada1814
gulch1832
cañon1834
canyon1837
khud1837
couloir1855
draw1864
box canyon1869
sitch1888
tangi1901
opena1903
c1440 (a1400) Awntyrs Arthure (Thornton) l. 418 (MED) My name es sir galleroune..The gretteste of galowaye, of greves and of gyllis.
a1500 (?c1450) Bone Florence (1976) l. 1417 Þey came downe in a depe gylle.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 193v As he glode thurgh the gille by a gate syde There met he tho men.
1667 Relation of Teneriffe in T. Sprat Hist. Royal-Soc. 208 The Canary-birds..breed in the Barancos or Gills, which the Water hath fretted away in the Mountains.
1793 W. Wordsworth Evening Walk 54 I wandered where the huddling rill Brightens with water-breaks the hollow ghyll.
1820 W. Scott Monastery II. i. 23 I have..led the chase when the Laird of Cessford and his gay riders were all thrown out by the mosses and gills.
a1887 R. Jefferies Field & Hedgerow (1889) 157 In the dells, the ‘gills’, as these wooded depths are called.
1922 Geol. Mag. 59 394 The numerous vertical chasms locally known as ‘gills’ or ‘pots’.
1995 Countryman Summer 80 This led down to a steep ghyll; I was sure we could scramble down this and up the other side, so as to rejoin the path further on.
2010 J. Brown Rough Guide Lake District (ed. 5) 282 In some places, steep-sided gills cut deeply into the fellsides.
2. A narrow stream; a brook or rivulet.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > rivers and streams > stream > [noun] > brook or brooklet
brookc888
ritheeOE
burnc1000
bournc1390
becka1400
brooketa1552
gill1635
stell1651
branch1663
turlough1686
brooklet1813
nant1923
1635 A. Gil Sacred Philos. Holy Script. vi. xxxi. 84 The great rivers are nothing else but the gathering together of waters from many smaller fountaines and gilz.
1693 J. Ray Three Physico-theol. Disc. (ed. 2) ii. 91 I have seen many of the biggest Rivers in Europe,..and all these from their first rise, made up by degrees of little Rivulets and Gills, like my neighbouring Brook.
1703 R. Neve City & Countrey Purchaser 55 Any Brook, Gill, or small River.
1751 S. Whatley England's Gazetteer at Gillisland 'Tis a tract much embarrassed with brooks, here called Gilles.
1853 J. Phillips Rivers, Mountains, & Sea-coast Yorks. iii. 51 The rivulets (called gills) which run in these branches have very elevated summits.
1899 H. D. Rawnsley Life & Nature at Eng. Lakes 135 These drank the cool, refreshing water from the ghyll hard by that refreshes us.
1998 Guardian 27 Apr. 13/8 The gill was in lively spate.
Compounds
General attributive.
ΚΠ
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 3231 Girdid out as gutars in grete gill-stremes.
1855 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Yorks. Words 71 A gill runnel, a rivulet or thread of water coursing along a deep dell.
1863 S. Baring-Gould Iceland 121 He was raised on a litter, and carried to a gill edge.
1890 J. W. Clark & T. McK. Hughes Life & Lett. A. Sedgwick I. i. 7 It was in this hamlet [sc. Kirthwaite] that a destructive avalanche—or, as they would have said in Dent, a ‘gill-brack’—took place in January, 1752.
1935 Times 13 June 7/1 It is to be hoped that his memory may long be enshrined in a patch of broom and daffodils planted by him on the gill-side.
1990 Country Walking Jan. 57/2 Flights of steps..zig-zag down to the gill floor.
2009 Kent & Sussex Courier (Nexis) 13 Mar. 20 The woodland in Uckfield is even more valued because it is ghyll woodland..and contains rare species.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
gilln.5
/dʒɪl/, U.S. /dʒɪl/ English regional (East Anglian). Now rare (historical in later use).
A piece of equipment used to move timber, consisting of two wheels, a pole or pair of shafts by which it is drawn, and an axle beneath which the timber is slung.
ΚΠ
1752 in D. Yaxley Researcher's Gloss. Hist. Documents E. Anglia (2003) 89 1 Timber gial.
1787 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Norfolk I. 60 The construction of the Norfolk gill is similar to that of the timber-wheels of most other countries.
1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words 185 In Norfolk the machine which conveys timber beneath, is called Jill, the Drug being called Jack.
1843 F. Marryat Narr. Trav. M. Violet III. xiii. 282 A couple of powerful oxen, yoked to a gill, employed to drag out the stumps of old trees.
1894 Eastern Daily Press (Norwich) 11 June 5/2 Forty or fifty timbers were drawn up the hill one at a time on a single jill by a traction engine.
1895 W. Rye Gloss. Words E. Anglia Gill, a vehicle for conveying timber, consisting of two wheels, a strong axle-tree supporting a very stout bar, on which the timber is slung, and shafts.
1979 G. E. Evans Horse Power & Magic viii. 77 A jim (in Norfolk jill, and the drug is called a jack) is made up of an axle and a pole for moving timber under it.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
† gilln.6
slang. Obsolete.
A man, a fellow, a chap.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > man > [noun]
churla800
werec900
rinkeOE
wapmanc950
heOE
wyeOE
gomeOE
ledeOE
seggeOE
shalkOE
manOE
carmanlOE
mother bairnc1225
hemea1250
mother sona1250
hind1297
buck1303
mister mana1325
piecec1325
groomc1330
man of mouldc1330
hathela1350
sire1362
malea1382
fellowa1393
guestc1394
sergeant?a1400
tailarda1400
tulka1400
harlotc1405
mother's sona1470
frekea1475
her1488
masculinea1500
gentlemana1513
horse?a1513
mutton?a1513
merchant1549
child1551
dick1553
sorrya1555
knavea1556
dandiprat1556
cove1567
rat1571
manling1573
bird1575
stone-horse1580
loona1586
shaver1592
slave1592
copemate1593
tit1594
dog1597
hima1599
prick1598
dingle-dangle1605
jade1608
dildoa1616
Roger1631
Johnny1648
boy1651
cod1653
cully1676
son of a bitch1697
cull1698
feller1699
chap1704
buff1708
son of a gun1708
buffer1749
codger1750
Mr1753
he-man1758
fella1778
gilla1790
gloak1795
joker1811
gory1819
covey1821
chappie1822
Charley1825
hombre1832
brother-man1839
rooster1840
blokie1841
hoss1843
Joe1846
guy1847
plug1848
chal1851
rye1851
omee1859
bloke1861
guffin1862
gadgie1865
mug1865
kerel1873
stiff1882
snoozer1884
geezer1885
josser1886
dude1895
gazabo1896
jasper1896
prairie dog1897
sport1897
crow-eater1899
papa1903
gink1906
stud1909
scout1912
head1913
beezer1914
jeff1917
pisser1918
bimbo1919
bozo1920
gee1921
mush1936
rye mush1936
basher1942
okie1943
mugger1945
cat1946
ou1949
tess1952
oke1970
bra1974
muzhik1993
a1790 H. T. Potter New Dict. Cant & Flash Langs. (1795) Rum gill, a gentleman who appears to have money that is meant to be robbed.
1812 Sporting Mag. 39 142 Come list ye all, ye fighting Gills And Coves of boxing note, sirs.
1834 W. H. Ainsworth Rookwood II. iii. v. 331 High Pads and Low Pads, Rum Gills and Queer Gills.
1923 H. C. Witwer Fighting Blood v. 141 I've tried everything I know to get this gil to fight us and no can do!
1925 Collier's 19 Sept. 7 This gil told the authorities that me and Barbara was mixed up in the bootlegging ring.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
gilln.7
/ɡɪl/, U.S. /ɡɪl/ Textiles. Now chiefly historical.
A machine for splitting, straightening, and combing out wool and other natural textile fibres, containing comb-like bars set with sharp steel pins arranged in rows through which the fibres are drawn, bringing them level and parallel to each other, in preparation for (further) combing, and spinning. Also: a set of such comb-like bars (or hackles), or each of the pins that form an individual hackle. Cf. hackle n.2 1a.Gill machines were originally designed for processing flax.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > treating or processing textile materials > treating or processing flax, hemp, or jute > [noun] > heckling > implement for
hatchelc1300
hecklea1425
hacklec1485
hetch1598
flax-comb1611
hack1658
gill1819
flax-hackle1825
rougher1828
ruffer1853
1819 J. Marshall Experiments III. 84 in W. G. Rimmer Marshalls of Leeds Flax-spinners 1788–1886 (1960) iii. 138 Dakeynes..used the plan of drawing through what they called..Gills.
1834 Mechanic (Boston) Aug. 249 The material to be spun is spread, and..acted upon by gills, or needles, fixed on to an endless chain, between the feeding and drawing rollers, which draw and deliver it in the form of a sliver.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 499 The machine commonly called the gill, employed for preparing, drawing, and roving flax and hemp, and for combing and spinning long wool.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 967/1 Gill, a hackle. A series of points which divide the ribbons of flax fiber into finer parallel filaments ready for drawing and spinning.
1904 Canad. Patent Office Rec. May 1433/1 (heading) No. 87,603. Hackle Bar Motion for Gills.
1980 W. A. McCutcheon Industr. Archaeol. N. Ireland (1984) v. 299/2 The drafting arrangements of the roving frame are practically the same as in the drawing frame though the ‘gills’..are finer.
2003 Oxf. Encycl. Econ. Hist. III. 333/2 The Frenchman Philippe de Girard is often credited with the invention of the gill around 1814.
Compounds
General attributive.
ΚΠ
1822 J. Marshall Experiments III. 51 in W. G. Rimmer Marshalls of Leeds Flax-spinners 1788–1886 (1960) iii. 139 Gill machines effected what we have so long aimed at producing, a good first sliver, and have overcome the radical difficulty of spinning an unequal and branchy material.
1834 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. Aug. 131 The specification commences by observing that there are certain machines known by the name of Gill spreading or drawing heads, and Roving or spinning frames.
1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 219 This..prevents the line of flax from being torn down under the machine, as frequently happens in gill-machines of the ordinary construction.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 501 Fig. 454 is a horizontal representation of a gill machine.
1853 A. Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) I. 758 This part of the machine..is generally termed the ‘gill-frame’ or ‘gill-head’.
1853 A. Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) I. 764 Gill-sheet. Gill-teeth.
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) IV. 378/2 These gill-combs are heated by travelling over jets of gas.
?1881 Census Eng. & Wales: Instr. Clerks classifying Occupations & Ages (?1885) 43 Gill Maker, Gill Bars Maker, Gill Stock Maker.
1882 Worcs. Exhib. Catal. iii. 31 Wool goes to Gill Box..to be gilled.
1950 ‘Mercury’ Dict. Textile Terms 521/1 The Lister Circular nip comb with gill box for long wools.
1960 W. G. Rimmer Marshalls of Leeds Flax-Spinners 1788–1886 139 Introducing gill frames meant reorganisation on a scale that John Marshall would have found difficult to recall.
2012 M. R. L. Horne in R. M. Kozłowski Handbk. Nat. Fibres I. vi. 141 Intersecting gill frames are less likely to be used with hemp processing than flax due to the cost involved.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
gillv.1
/ɡɪl/, U.S. /ɡɪl/ 1. transitive. To remove the gills from (fish). Also more generally (esp. in early use): to gut (fish).In early use perhaps also more generally: †to gut (animals); cf. quot. c1450 at giller n. (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation for table or cooking > preparation of seafood > prepare seafood [verb (transitive)] > gut
guta1400
gill1530
garbage1542
geremumble1599
gip1603
to dress down1843
gib1883
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 194 Gyllyn, or gylle fysche, exentero.
c1450 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 581/13 Euiro [read eviscero], to gylle.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 566/1 I gyll fysshe, je oste la branche.
1580 R. Hitchcock Pollitique Platt sig. a.iiv Gill theim [sc. Herynges], salte, pickle, and barrill theim after the Flemishe maner.
1695 England's Great Interest Royal Fishery vi. 36 This Herring Fishing, now of Two hundred years standing, since William Benkelson learned first to Gill, Salt, and Pack them up in Casks.
1803 Philos. Mag. 16 44 They begin the operation by cutting out the gills [sc. of herrings], as those parts are liable to speedy putrefaction... The overplus..are also gilled, lightly salted, and thrown into boats to be sent ashore.
1881 P. B. Du Chaillu Land Midnight Sun II. 149 Here the fish are gilled, which is done by making a cut with a sharp knife over the throat of the herring, whereupon the windpipe and entrails are drawn out.
1973 Islander (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 26 Aug. 2/3 Finally I gilled my 2½ pound trout.
1993 Outdoor Canada Sept. 6/2 You can fillet and prepare them exactly the same way you would walleye, but I find a far better method is simply to gut and gill them and to scrape off the large scales.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > fish-keeping, farming, or breeding > [verb (transitive)] > handle gills
gill1613
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage iii. xvii. 285 The fishes in the Lake of Venus..presented themselues, enduring to be scratched, gilled, and mens hands to be put in their mouths.
3. transitive. To remove the gills from (a mushroom). Cf. gill n.1 4. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation for table or cooking > preparing fruit and vegetables > prepare fruit and vegetables [verb (transitive)] > prepare mushrooms
gill1727
1727 E. Smith Compl. Housewife 76 Take the large Mushrooms..cut off the Stalks, but do not peel or gill them.
2015 J. Berg Vitamix Cookbk. iv. 129 To gill the mushrooms: Gently remove the stems from the mushrooms, and using a spoon, go around the underside of the mushroom cap, removing as many of the ‘gills’ as possible by scraping them away.
4. transitive. Originally U.S. To catch or entangle (fish) by the gills. Frequently in passive. Cf. gill net n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > type or method of fishing > [verb (transitive)] > catch fish with net
netOE
dredge1508
drag1698
tuck1785
gillnet1837
amphibolize1854
gill1868
trawl1883
seine1887
poke1899
1868 Rep. Commissioners Fisheries (Mass. House of Representatives No. 60) 10 Another sort of gill-net is stretched on stakes along tide-flats, and the shad get gilled as they try to retreat with the falling tide.
1892 Graphic 13 Aug. 194/1 Pilchard-fishing..is carried on much further from shore, by means of drift or driving nets, in the meshes of which the fish become entangled or gilled... The shore-seines do not gill the fish, having much smaller mesh.
1947 Commerc. Salmon-fisheries Brit. Columbia (Dept. Fisheries, Brit. Columbia) (rev. ed.) 26 The size of the mesh varies somewhat, but must not be so large that the fish can get ‘gilled’ in the meshes.
1988 Boating Jan. 22/2 Even sunken, overfilled nets could continue to gill fish.
2006 A. M. Foley Having my Say xxiii. 137 If we..got to the right place on the right tide, with the right size of mesh, fish struck the net and got gilled.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† gillv.2
English regional (northern) and Scottish. Obsolete.
intransitive. To drink alcohol, esp. in modest measures but at numerous establishments in succession.
ΚΠ
1855 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Yorks. Words 92 ‘He goes jilling about’, drinking his half-pints at different places, as the toper.
1868 J. C. Atkinson Gloss. Cleveland Dial. 283 Jill, to drink intemperately, but in small quantities at any one place.
a1870 D. Thomson Musings among Heather (1881) 118 They sat an' gill'd an' gill'd awa', An' stories tell'd, an' sang an' a'.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
gillv.3
/ɡɪl/, U.S. /ɡɪl/ Textiles.
transitive. To prepare (wool or other textile material) with a gill (gill n.7), bringing the fibres level and parallel to each other in preparation for combing and spinning.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > treating or processing textile materials > [verb (transitive)] > comb
tozea1250
kemba1300
card1333
comb1577
gill1864
1864 Newton's London Jrnl. Arts & Sci. 19 19 The printed web or sliver is afterwards steamed, washed, and dried, after which it is gilled and drawn, by which the desired extending and consequent mixing of the fibres are effected.
1882 Worcs. Exhib. Catal. iii. 31 [Exhibit No.] 18. Wool goes to Gill Box..to be gilled. 19. Machine for Gilling the tops. 21. Winds the gilled balls.
1924 W. H. Dooley Textiles for Commerc., Industr., Evening & Domest. Arts Schools (rev. ed.) 197 Gill and comb several strands of wool.
2003 C. A. Lawrence Fund. Spun Yarn Technol. iii. 141 Since washing and drying of the sliver disturbs the fiber arrangements, the slivers have to be lubricated and gilled in preparation for combing.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1a1325
n.2c1390
n.3a1438n.4c1440
n.51752n.6a1790n.71819v.11440v.21855v.31864- quiet-footed
- quiet-going
- quiet-living
- quiet-looking
- quiet-mannered
- quiet-minded
- quiet-moving
- quiet-seeming
- quiet-smiling
- quiet-spoken
- quiet-tempered
- quiet-tinted
- quiet-toned
- quiet-voiced
- quiet-walled
- quieta non movere
- quietance
- quietant
- quietation
- quieted
- quieten
- quietened
- quietener
- quietening
- quietenings