gill
noun
[ ɡɪl ]
• the paired respiratory organ of fish and some amphibians, by which oxygen is extracted from water flowing over surfaces within or attached to the walls of the pharynx.
• the vertical plates arranged radially on the underside of mushrooms and many toadstools.
• the wattles or dewlap of a domestic fowl.
gill
verb
• gut or clean (a fish).
• catch (a fish) in a gill net.
Origin:
Middle English: from Old Norse.
gill
noun
• a unit of liquid measure, equal to a quarter of a pint.
Origin:
Middle English: from Old French gille ‘measure or container for wine’, from late Latin gillo ‘water pot’.
gill
noun
• a deep ravine, especially a wooded one.
• a narrow mountain stream.
Origin:
Middle English: from Old Norse gil ‘deep glen’. The spelling ghyll was introduced by Wordsworth.
gill
noun
• a female ferret.
• a young woman.
Origin:
late Middle English: abbreviation of the given name Gillian .
