See also: Sill

English

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1: Sill
2: Lintel

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English sille, selle, sülle, from Old English syll, syl (sill, threshold, foundation, base, basis), from Proto-Germanic *sulī (bar, sill), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (beam, board, frame, threshold).

Cognate with Scots sil, sill (balk, beam, floor, sill), Dutch zulle (sill), Low German Sull, Sülle (threshold, ramp, sill), German Süll, Sülle (threshold, sill), Danish syld (base of a framework building), Swedish syll (joist, cross-tie), Norwegian syll, Icelandic syll, sylla (sill). Related also to German Schwelle ( > Danish svelle), Old Norse svill, Latin silva (wood, forest), Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē).

Noun

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sill (plural sills)

  1. (architecture, also "window sill") A breast wall; window breast; horizontal brink which forms the base of a window.
    She looked out the window resting her elbows on the window sill.
  2. (construction) A threshold; horizontal structural member of a building near ground level on a foundation or pilings, or lying on the ground, and bearing the upright portion of a frame; a sill plate.
    Coordinate terms: ground plate, groundsill, sole, sole plate, mudsill
  3. (geology) A stratum of rock, especially an intrusive layer of igneous rock lying parallel to surrounding strata.
    • 1980, Geological Survey Professional Paper, Volume 1119, U.S. Government Printing Office:
      Minor palingenetic magmas probably were generated at this time and intruded the mantling rocks in the form of small sills and apophyses [] .
    • 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 55::
      The molten rock in the sills may have ignited vast reserves of shallowly buried natural gas, much like a match applied to a gas barbecue.
  4. A threshold or brink across the bottom of a canal lock for the gates to shut against.
  5. (anatomy) A raised area at the base of the nasal aperture in the skull.
    the nasal sill
  6. (military, historical) The inner edge of the bottom of an embrasure.
Usage notes
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  • Usually spelled cill when used in the context of canal or river engineering.
Quotations
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Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Etymology 2

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Compare sile.

Noun

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sill (plural sills)

  1. (UK) A young herring.

Etymology 3

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Compare thill.

Noun

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sill (plural sills)

  1. The shaft or thill of a carriage.

Etymology 4

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Short for silly.

Adjective

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sill (comparative more sill, superlative most sill)

  1. (rare, slang) Silly.

References

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  • Harris, Cyril M.. Illustrated dictionary of historic architecture. New York: Dover Publications, 1983, 1977. Groundsill →ISBN

Anagrams

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from French sill, from English sill.

Noun

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sill n (uncountable)

  1. (geology) sill

Declension

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Swedish

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Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv
 
en sill

Etymology

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From Old Norse síld, from Proto-Germanic *sīlą.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sill c

  1. herring

Usage notes

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  • Herring from the Atlantic on Sweden's west coast is called sill. The subspecies fished from the Baltic Sea on Sweden's east coast is called strömming.

Declension

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Declension of sill 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative sill sillen sillar sillarna
Genitive sills sillens sillars sillarnas

Derived terms

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See also

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References

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Welsh

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Etymology

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

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sill f (plural sillau or silloedd, not mutable)

  1. Alternative form of sillaf (syllable)

Further reading

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  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “sill”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies