| 释义 |
▪ I. gill, n.1|gɪl|
Chiefly pl. Forms: 4 gile, 5 gyle, 5–6 gylle, 5–7 gille, 7 gil, guil(l, (gild), 6– gill.
[Of obscure origin; Sw. gäl (MSw. gel masc.), Da. gjælle, which agree in meaning, do not account for the form of the English word.
An ON. gjǫlnar, explained as ‘gills’ in Cleasby-Vigfusson, is of uncertain meaning; the word occurs only as a poetic name for the whiskers of the Fenris-wolf.]
1. a. The organ of respiration in fishes and other water-breathing animals, which is so arranged that the venous blood is exposed to the aerating influence of water. In fishes, the gills are situated on each side of the neck: in other aquatic animals their position and structure is very varied.
In scientific use the term gills is applied only to the branchial lamellæ attached to the gill-arches: in popular language the word denotes the whole breathing apparatus, including the gill-covers.
13..E.E. Allit. P. C. 269 He [Jonah] glydez in by þe giles [of the whale], þurȝ glaymande glette. 1388Wyclif Tobit vi. 4 Take thou his gile ether iowe [Vulg. branchiam; 1382 fin] and drawe hym to thee. c1440Promp. Parv. 194/1 Gylle of a fysche, branchia, senecia. 1483in Cath. Angl. 156/1. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 277 b, Fysshes breth at theyr gyllys. 1601Holland Pliny I. 237 They..suppose..that no fishes hauing guils, do draw in and deliuer their wind again to and fro. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. Digress. 370 Their Gills seem somewhat Analogous (as to their use) to Lungs. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 415. ? 1705 W. King Fisherman 22 Till they, of farther Passage quite bereft, Were in the Mash with Gills entangl'd left. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 299 The amphibia are furnished with lungs; the fishes, with gills. 1813Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 212 Atmospheric air taken into the lungs of animals, or passed in solution in water through the gills of fishes, loses oxygene. 1872Mivart Elem. Anat. xii. (1873) 461 The gills or branchiæ. These are delicate processes of skin richly supplied with blood, and capable of absorbing oxygen.
b. The branchiæ or respiratory organs of certain worms and arachnids.
1878Bell tr. Gegenbaur's Comp. Anat. §190. 247 The wings [of insects] must be regarded as homologous with the lamellar tracheal gills. 1884Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v., In Vermes many of the Chætopoda have external tufted gills attached to the dorsal parapoda.
2. Applied to various organs, etc. resembling the gills of a fish.
a. The wattles or dewlap of a fowl.
1626Bacon Sylva §852 The Turky-Cocke hath great and Swelling Gills, the Hen hath lesse. 1681R. Knox Hist. Ceylon 27 It is black with yellow gills about the bigness of a Black-Bird. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 184 Here are also plenty of Guanoes and Carrion-crows, which, with their red gills..bear the exact resemblance of a Turkey. 1785J. Trusler Mod. Times III. 18 Her face was as red as the gills of a turkey cock.
†b. In quadrupeds: (see quot.). Obs.
1787Best Angling (ed. 2) 88 Furs, off the squirrel, especially his tail..a martern particularly from off the gills, or spots under the jaws.
c. The radiating plates arranged vertically in the under side of the cap or pileus of fungi.
1715Phil. Trans. XXIX. 350 He could never find them to produce any Seed either in their Gills or other Parts. 1743Pickering Ibid. XLII. 595 The Gills, as they are called, are no other than Capsulæ, or Pods for the Seed. 1835Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. I. v. 179 Channels, separated from each other by elevated processes resembling the gills of a mushroom. 1868Herschel in People's Mag. Jan. 62 Mushrooms and ‘toadstools’, furnished at their under side with gills, or radiating plates or laminæ, set edgewise.
d. Aeronaut. (See quot. 1949.)
1949Gloss. 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. 1971D. 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.
3. Attributed to persons:
†a. with jocular allusion to the capture or holding of a fish by the gills.
1589Pappe w. Hatchet 3 Martin beware your gilles, for Ile make you daunce at the poles end. 1599Minsheu Span. Dial. (1623) 67/2 He throwes againe the dice, and he drew vp all, and so he left me hanging on the gill [marg. as a fish], without a farthing. a1616Beaum. & Fl. Wit at Sev. Weap. ii. ii, And when thou hast him by the amorous gills, Think on my vengeance.
b. with allusion to sense 2 a: The flesh under the jaws and ears; esp. in phrases to be rosy about the gills, to look in good health; to be white, blue, yellow about the gills, to look dejected or in ill health; to turn red in the gills, to show signs of anger or indignation.
1626Bacon Sylva §872 Anger..maketh both the Cheekes and the Gills Red. 1632B. Jonson Magn. Lady i. i, He..draws all the parish wills, designs the legacies, and strokes the gills Of the chief mourners. 1681Dryden Span. Friar ii. ii, He says he's but a friar, but he's big enough to be a pope; his gills are as rosy as a turkey-cock. 1798C. Smith Young Philos. III. 274 ‘My dear Sir!’ replied Sir Appulby, in visible confusion, his fat gills quivering, and his swollen eye-lids twinkling [etc.]. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 102 [He] grew white about the gills. 1816Wolcot (P. Pindar) Wks. I. 8 Whether you look all rosy round the gills, Or hatchet-fac'd like starving cats so lean. 1842C. Whitehead R. Savage (1845) II. viii. 277 You won't run away with her, I hope, and leave my old gills to be cuffed, will you? 1855Thackeray Newcomes II. 58 He looks a little yellow about the gills. 1893‘Q.’ [Couch] Delect. Duchy 168 He..looked very yellow in the gills, though clearly convalescent. 1894Du Maurier Trilby (1895) 236 How red and coarse their ears and gills and cheeks grew, as they fed!
4. slang. Only in pl. The corners of a stand-up shirt-collar.
1826H. N. Coleridge West Ind. 253 Your shirt collars should be loose round the neck, and the gills low. 1852R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour xxxvi. 196 He wore no gills. 1859Sala Tw. round Clock 223 With a red face..with gills white and tremendous, with a noble white waist⁓coat. 1884Daily Tel. 8 July 5/4 Lord Macaulay wore, to the close of his life, ‘stick-ups’, or gills.
5. attrib. and Comb.
a. General combinations (attrib. and objective), as gill-bearer, gill-branch, gill-filament, gill-fin, gill-intestine, gill-muscle, gill-tuft; gill-like adj.; gill-bearing, gill-covering ppl. adjs.b. Special combinations: gill-arch, -bar, one of the cartilaginous arches to which the gills of fishes are attached; gill-artery (see quot.); gill-basket, the cartilaginous framework protecting the gills in the lamprey and allied species; gill-book, the lamellate respiratory organs of the king crabs which form the order Xiphosura; gill-breather (see quot.); gill-cavity, -chamber, the cavity or compartment in which the gill is contained; gill-cleft = gill-opening; gill-comb = ctenidium; gill-cover, the bony case covering and protecting the gills of fish; gill-fishing, fishing with a gill-net (Cent. Dict.); gill-fissure = gill-opening; gill-flap (see quot.); gill-footed a. = branchiopodous; gill-lamella, -leaf, -leaflet = gill-plate; gill-lid (see quot.); gill-membrane (see quot.); gill-net, a fishing-net so constructed that the fish are caught by the gills; gill-netter, ‘one who owns or uses gill-nets’ (Cent. Dict.); gill-netting, the material of which gill-nets are made; gill-opening (see quot.); gill-plate, one of the vascular lamellæ forming part of the gills of fishes, molluscs, etc.; gill-plume = gill-comb; gill-pore, a small pore between the gill-pouch and the exterior in acorn worms of the class Enteropneusta; gill-pouch, (a) a pouch into which the gills of acorn worms open; (b) a pouch enclosing the gills in fishes of the subclass Cyclostomata; (c) Embryol., a pouch present during part of the development of all vertebrate embryos; gill-raker, one of a line of cartilaginous or bony projections on the inner side of a gill-arch; gill-slit = gill-opening; † gill-stone, a kind of fossil; gill-vein (see quot.).
1879tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man I. ix. 266 These vascular *gill-arches pass along the gill-openings, and directly accomplish respiration.
1885Syd. Soc. Lex., *Gill-artery, the artery which..travels along the base of each gill in fishes and breaks up into capillaries, by means of which the blood is exposed to the water and undergoes oxidation.
Ibid. s.v. Gill, In Cyclostomi the gills are a series of six or seven pouches..with an outer cartilaginous frame-work or *gill-basket.
1883Gd. Words Sept. 589/1 These *gill-bearers are, however, but one order in this extensive division of plants.
1851Ogilvie, *Gill-bearing, producing gills. 1885Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v., In Teleostei the gills..are covered by a gill-bearing operculum.
1881Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XXI. 541 The lamellæ of the *gill-books of Limulus are..delicate flattened bags with a setose free border. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXV. 521/2 The leaves (some 150 in number) of the gill-book..correspond to the tooth-like processes of the pectens of Scorpio. Ibid., The gill-books of Limulus. 1932Borradaile & Potts Invertebrata xv. 445 The gill books are stated to be the most primitive respiratory organs.
1881Nature XXV. 136 The theory which considers the limbs and their girdles to be transformed and translocated *gill-branch elements.
1889Century Dict., *Gill-breather, that which breathes by means of gills; spec. one of the Caridea or Crustacea as distinguished from any tracheate arthropod or tube-breather.
1846Owen Comp. Anat. i. 259 In a common *gill-cavity which has a single outlet.
1851–6Woodward Mollusca 65 The hectocotyle of tremoctopus was discovered by Dr. Kölliker at Messina, in 1842, adhering to the interior of the *gill-chamber and funnel of the poulpe. 1872Mivart Elem. Anat. 478 The gill-chamber is further protected by a membranous fold which lies within the opercular flap.
1890Dublin Rev. Oct. 448 Certain *gill-clefts in the embryos of higher animals. 1883*Gill-comb [see ctenidium].
1776Pennant Zool. III. 223 The edges of the *gill-covers serrated. 1872Nicholson Palæont. 310 The only portions of the skull which require special mention are the bones which form the gill-cover or operculum.
1769Pennant Zool. III. 30 Which bones are called the Radii Branchiostegi, or the *Gill-covering Rays.
1847Carpenter Anim. Phys. 249 The *gill-filaments themselves are so arranged that they do not clog together.
1676Cotton Complete Angler ii. xii, A Bullhead, with his *gill-fins cut off. 1681J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. iv. §22 (1689) 54 His guill-fins being cut off.
1879tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man I. i. 18 Nearly the whole of the front half of the body consists of a shapeless head without a face, on the sides of which are seen *gill-fissures and gill-arches as in Fishes.
1828–32Webster, *Gill-flap, a membrane attached to the posterior edge of the gill-lid, immediately closing the gill-opening. 1854Badham Halieut. 241 A palm-tree, which it climbed by hooking its spinous gill-flaps into the inequalities of the bark.
1846Patterson Zool. 76 In one division [of the crustacea] termed ‘*gill-footed’, the surface of the legs is extended.
1879tr. Haeckel's Evol. Man I. x. 280 At a very early period the intestinal tube is divided into a *gill-intestine and a stomach-intestine.
1878Bell tr. Gegenbaur's Comp. Anat. 336 Each *gill-lamella is developed from a row of processes which bud out close to one another.
1865Gosse Land & Sea (1874) 208 The entire *gill-leaf [of a Mussel] is formed out of a single thread.
1885Syd. Soc. Lex., *Gill-leaflets, the delicate layer of connective tissue..on which the gill-arteries ramify.
1828–32Webster, *Gill-lid, the covering of the gills.
1852Dana Crust. i. 5 Certain *gill-like organs.
1889Century Dict., *Gill-membrane, the membranous covering of the foremost branchiostegal arch of the branchial skeleton of ordinary fishes.
1839–47Todd Cycl. Anat. III. 507/2 In some fishes..the *gill-muscles are red.
1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 369 The fishermen turn the course of the river..or compress it into a narrow channel, where they fix their *gill nets. 1883G. B. Goode Fish. Indust. U.S. 12 The introduction of the Norwegian gill-net into the winter cod fisheries.
1894Times 17 Aug. 9/2 Flax *gill netting, nets, webs, and seines.
1828–32Webster, *Gill-opening, the aperture of a fish or other animal by which water is admitted to the gills. 1880Günther Fishes 35 The boundary between the first and second being generally indicated by the gill-opening.
1878Bell tr. Gegenbaur's Comp. Anat. 336 Owing to this union of the flattened filaments or lamellæ, which have their surfaces directed towards one another, a *gill-plate is formed. 1894Wrkg. Men's Coll. Jrnl. Dec. 139 The larvæ..bear at the extremity of the abdomen three delicate leaf-like gill-plates.
1902Encycl. 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. 1967P. A. Meglitsch Invert. Zool. xii. 427/1 The gill pores are usually guarded by sphincter muscles.
1888*Gill-pouch [see pouch n. 3 a]. 1888Rolleston & Jackson Forms Anim. Life 590 New gill-pouches appear to be constantly added throughout life. 1895B. Dean Fishes Living & Fossil ii. 18 There has been a general tendency to press closely together the gill pouches. 1914W. E. Kellicott Outl. Chordate Devel. iv. 269 There is a pair of lateral extensions of the foregut [of the chick]..marking the positions of the future first gill pouches. 1931J. R. Norman Hist. Fishes iii. 37 The gill-pouches are large in the lamprey. 1932Borradaile & Potts Invertebrata xix. 663 A pair of collar pores open backward from the collar cavities into the first gill pouch. 1959L. H. Hyman Invertebrates V. xvii. 111 In Stereobalanus canadensis..all the gill pouches on each side are fused. 1960B. I. Balinsky Introd. Embryol. i. 10 The formation of gill pouches in the ontogenetic development of all vertebrates. 1962K. F. Lagler et al. Ichthyology iii. 82 Some hag-fishes have numerous gill pouches on a side.
1880Günther Fishes 59 On the inner side they support horny processes called the *gill-rakers.
1846Owen Comp. Anat. i. 258 Each *gill-sac receives..its proper artery. 1885Syd. Soc. Lex., Gill-sac, the flattened cavities, each having a separate internal and external orifice, containing the gill, in the Myxine.
1854Owen Skel. & Teeth in Circ. Sci., Organ. Nat. I. 173 The two vertical fissures behind are called ‘*gill-slits’, or branchial or opercular apertures. 1880E. R. Lankester Degener. 44 Secondly, the throat perforated by gill-slits.
1708in Phil. Trans. XXVI. 78 Branchiale, The *Gill-stone.
1848Carpenter Anim. Phys. 250 A similar action goes on, still more energetically, on the *gill-tufts of the Annelida.
1885Syd. Soc. Lex., *Gill-vein, the vessel situated at the base of each gill which returns the blood after it has been aerated to the dorsal aorta in fishes.
▪ II. gill, n.2|gɪl|
Forms: 5 gille, 5–6 gyll(e, 6 gil, 8–9 ghyll, 5– gill.
[a. ON. gil a deep glen (cogn. w. geil of the same meaning); further relations are uncertain.
The spelling ghyll, often used in guide-books to the Lake district, seems to have been introduced by Wordsworth.]
1. A deep rocky cleft or ravine, usually wooded and forming the course of a stream.
In dialect use in the northern counties, also in Kent and Surrey.
1400Destr. Troy 13529 As he glode thurgh the gille by a gate syde, There met he tho men. c1440Bone Flor. 1419 They came downe in a depe gylle. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 98 Onto the number of ten thousand men, Dalie he led ouir mony gill and glen. 1667Relation of Teneriffe in Sprat Hist. R. Soc. 208 The Canary-birds..breed in the Barancos or Gills, which the Water hath fretted away in the Mountains. 1787–9Wordsw. Even. Walk 54, I wandered where the huddling rill Brightens with water-breaks the hollow ghyll. 1820Scott Monast. xiii, I have..led the chase when the Laird of Cessford and his gay riders were all thrown out by the mosses and gills. 1886Jefferies Field & Hedgerow (1889) 157 In the dells, the ‘gills’, as these wooded depths are called. 1887Kent Gloss., Gill, a little, narrow, wooded valley with a stream of water running through it; a rivulet; a beck.
2. A narrow stream, a brook or rivulet.
1625Gill Sacr. Philos. vi. 84 The great rivers are nothing else but the gathering together of waters from many smaller fountains and gilz. 1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 55 Any Brook, Gill, or small River. 1752in Philos. Mag. Jan. (1866) XXXI. 80 We ran to look at the Gill; and we directed our sights (by the noise that it made) the right way. 1778Eng. Gaz. (ed. 2) s.v. Gillisland, 'Tis a tract much embarrassed with brooks, here called Gilles. 1853Phillips Rivers Yorksh. iii. 51 The rivulets (called gills) which run in these branches have very elevated summits. 1866Sedgwick in Philos. Mag. XXXI. 79 Hence the becks, or mountain-streams, are often greatly swollen, and the gills, or lateral branches, frequently descend in brawling torrents from the mountain-side into the lower valley through deep ravines and lateral valleys.
3. attrib., as gill-brack (see brack n.1 8), gill-edge, gill-runnel, gill-stream.
a1400–50Alexander 3231 Girdid out as gutars . in grete gill-stremes. 1855Robinson Whitby Gloss. s.v., A gill runnel, a rivulet or thread of water coursing along a deep dell. 1863Baring-Gould Iceland 121 He was raised on a litter, and carried to a gill edge. 1890Clark & Hughes Life A. Sedgwick I. i. 7 It was in this hamlet [Kirthwaite] that a destructive avalanche—or, as they would have said in Dent, a ‘gill-brack’—took place in January, 1752.
▪ III. gill, n.3|dʒɪl|
Forms: 4 gille, jille, 4–5 gylle, 6 gyll, 7– gill, (9 jill).
[a. OF. gille, gelle in med.L. gillo, gellus, the name of a vessel or measure used for wine. The relation between these forms and those cited under gallon is obscure.]
1. A measure for liquids, containing one fourth of a standard pint.
In many districts the gill is equivalent to a half-pint, the quarter-pint being called a jack.
1275in Mun. Gildhallæ (Rolls) III. 432 Mensuræ quæ vocantur schopinas et gilles. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 191 Til Gloten hed i-gloupet a galoun and a gille. 1590Wills & Inv. N.C. II. (Surtees 1860) 199 For j gyll of veolarium 5s. 4d. a1719Addison Playhouse 75 Till, freed at length, he..to some peaceful brandy-shop retires; Where in full gills his anxious thoughts he drowns. 1773Johnson in Boswell Tour Hebrides 20 Sept., Each man called for his own half-pint of wine, or gill, if he pleased. 1824Carlyle in Froude Life (1882) I. 263 His [Irving's] philosophy with me is like a gill of ditch-water thrown into the crater of Mount ætna. 1862Ansted Channel Isl. iv. App. A. (ed. 2) 566 The smaller divisions are into pots (half-gallon), quarts, pints, gills (quarter of a pint), and noggins (an eighth of a pint).
b. A measure used for tin (see quot.).
1602Carew Cornwall 13 b, They measure their black Tynne, by the Gill, the Toplippe, the Dish and the Foote, which containeth a pint, a pottell, a gallon, and towards two gallons.
2. A vessel holding a gill.
c1440Promp. Parv. 194/1 Gylle, lytylle pot, gilla, vel gillus. c1800W. B. Rhodes Bomb. Fur. iv. (1830) 25 O was I a quart, pint or gill To be scrubb'd by her delicate hands. 1864Lond. Gaz. No. 1989/4 Several Silver Spoons mark'd T.J.M., a Silver Gill with the same Letters.
3. attrib., as gill-glass, gill-house, gill-stoup.
1673Dryden Marr. à la Mode iii. i, Who..opens her dear bottle of mirabilis beside, for a gill-glass of it at parting. 1728Pope Dunc. iii. 139 Thee shall each Ale-house, thee each Gill-house mourn. 1799Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1800) III. 349 With a bottle of gin in her right hand, and a gill glass in her left. 1820Blackw. Mag. VI. 569 Having paid our respects to the gill-stoup at Lamington.
▪ IV. gill, jill, n.4|dʒɪl|
Also 5–6 gille, 6 gyll, 6–7 gil.
[Abbreviation of gillian.]
1. a. A familiar or contemptuous term applied to a woman; a lass, wench.
c1460Towneley Myst. iii. 219 Noah [to his wife]. Haue at the, gill. 1465J. Paston in P. Lett. No. 528 II. 238 My Lord Persy and all this house..wysshe ye had be here stille For the sey ye are a good gille. 1577tr. Bullinger's Dec. 224 The wife that gadds not gigglot wise with euerie flirting gill. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 1159/2 She is a princesse, and the daughter of a noble king, and it euill becommeth thee to call her a gill. 1665J. Wilson Project. i. Dram. Wks. (1874) 228 Mrs. Got. Sirrah..look out and mind your business..Got. Good faith, I do. Mrs. Got. Yes, among your gills too much! What was that you said to our maid t' other night? 1938Times Lit. Suppl. 8 Oct. 638/4 She was a rolling-stone and an ignorant Jill-of-all-trades. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §382/2 A female, esp. a girl or young woman,..gill,..Jill.
attrib.1635Quarles Embl. i. x, Close by the jack, behold, jill Fortune stands To wave the game.
b. A female ferret, polecat, or weasel. colloq. or dial.
1851N. & Q. III. 461/2 The name by which the male ferret is known in the midland counties is the hob: the female is called the jill. 1875G. C. Davies Rambles School Field-Club xxviii. 210 A..‘hob’, or male ferret, and..a ‘jill’, or female. 1902W. E. de Winton in C. J. Cornish Naturalist on Thames 72 The female, or ‘Jill’, changes her entire coat directly she has young.
2. a. Jack and Gill = lad and lass; also in proverb Every Jack must (or will) have his Gill. See also Jack n.1 1 b.
c1460Towneley Myst. iii. 336 For Iak nor for gill. a1529Skelton Magnyf. 290 What auayleth lordshyp, yourselfe for to kylle With care and with thought howe Iacke shalle haue Gyl. 1566Drant Horace's Sat. i. i. A vj a, Thy cheefe acquaintaunce all, Thy iacke, thy gille, thy kith, thy kinne doth prosecute thy fall. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 885 Our woing doth not end like an old Play: Iacke hath not Gill. 1621B. Jonson Gipsies Metam. (1640) 93, I can..Give you all your fill, Each Iack with his Gill. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Gill..a homely Woman. Every Jack must have his Gill. [Nursery Rime, Jack and Gill went up the hill, To fetch a pail of water.]
†b. With punning allusion to gill n.3 Obs.
1619H. Hutton Follies Anat. Epigr. xlvi, Fill me a quart (quoth he) I'me called Will. The prouerbe is, Each Iack will haue his Gill.
†3. A name for a mare. Cf. gillot 2. Obs.
1650B. Discolliminium 16 If my Mare hath the Scratches on her hinder Heeles, I must not cut off her four legs..if I doe, I shall wrong my poor Gyll.
4. a. dial. Short for gill-go-by-ground (see 5). ? Obs.
1727[see 5 b]. 1742Shenstone Schoolmistr. xi, The lowly gill, that never dares to climb. 1760Lee Bot. App. 303 Gill, Glechoma [in the Linnaean system]. 1846Buchanan Techn. Dict., Gill, the plant ground-ivy.
b. Short for gill-ale or gill-beer.
1755Johnson, Gill, a malt liquor medicated with ground⁓ivy. 1828–64in Webster; and in recent Dicts.
5. attrib. and Comb.
a. In phraseological Comb., as † gill-burnt-tail, † gill-o'-th'-wisp, will-o'-the-wisp (see gillian); gill-creep- (or go-) by-ground, gill-go-over-the-ground, gill-run by-the-ground, dialect names for Ground Ivy (Nepeta Glechoma); † gill-run-by-the-street, Common Soap-wort (Saponaria officinalis).
†b. attrib. (sense 4), as gill-ale, gill-beer, gill-tea. Also gill-flirt.
a.1597Gerarde Herbal ii. ccc. 705 It is commonly called..ground Iuie, Alehoof, Gill creepe by ground [(1633) 856 Gill go by ground]. 1640Parkinson Theat. Bot. v. lxxix. 642 The countrey people in Kent and Sussex call it [Sopewort] Gill run by the street. 1654Gayton Pleas. Notes iii. v. 97 Will with the Wispe, or Gyl burnt tayle. 1749–50Lady Bradshaigh Let. 21 Feb. in Richardson Corr. (1804) IV. 367 Looking, as I knew, for a certain gill-o'-th'-wisp, who, I have a notion, escaped being known by you. Richardson Ibid. 372. 1864 Thoreau Cape Cod v. (1894) 118 There were yellow-dock, lemon balm, hyssop, Gill-go-over-the-ground, and other plants. 1877N.W. Linc. Gloss., Gill run by th' grund, ground ivy. 1883Hampsh. Gloss., Gill-go-by-ground.
b.a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Gill-ale, Physic-ale. 1710Swift Lett. (1767) 19, I was forced to..dine for tenpence upon gill-ale, bad broth, and three chops of mutton. 1727Bradley Fam. Dict., Gill-Ale, Ale, &c. where Ground-ivy or Gill is infused. 1737G. Jones Lett. to Miss Bevan 527 Am now to confine my self to Gill Tea and few other simple things. 1807Martyn Miller's Gard. Dict. s.v. Glechoma, The leaves [of Ground Ivy] were formerly thrown into the vat with ale to clarify it, and to give it a flavour. This was called Gill-ale. 1889Century Dict., Gill-beer, malt liquor medicated with the leaves of the gill or ground ivy.
▪ V. † gill, n.5 Obs. rare—1.
In 5 gylle.
[? A use of gill n.4 (or of the proper name Gill); cf. mawkin.]
? An apron.
c1440Promp. Parv. 194/1 Gylle, fowle clothe (H., P. fulclothe), melota, vel melotes.
▪ VI. gill, n.6 dial.|dʒɪl|
Also 9 jill.
[Of uncertain origin; cf. gill n.4 3.]
(See quot. 1895.)
1787W. Marshall Norfolk (1795) II. 380 Gill, a pair of timber-wheels. 1843Marryat M. Violet xliv, A couple of powerful oxen yoked to a gill, employed to drag out the stumps of old trees. 1894E. Daily Press 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. 1895E. Angl. Gloss., 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.
▪ VII. gill, n.7 slang.|gɪl|
A fellow, ‘chap’, ‘cove’.
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Gill, a word used by way of variation, similar to cove, gloak or gory; but generally coupled to some other descriptive term as a flash-gill, a toby-gill. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 142 Come list ye all, ye fighting Gills And Coves of boxing note, sirs. 1834H. Ainsworth Rookwood iii. v, High Pads and Low Pads, Rum Gills and Queer Gills.
▪ VIII. gill, n.8 techn.|gɪl|
[Conceivably a transferred use of gill n.1]
A flax-comb (see quots.).
1839Ure 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. 1853Ibid. I. 763 The use of ‘gills’ became general about thirty years since. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Gill, a hackle. A series of points which divide the ribbons of flax fibre into finer parallel filaments ready for drawing and spinning.
b. attrib. and Comb.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 501 Fig. 454 is a horizontal representation of a gill machine. 1851Illustr. Lond. News (1854) 5 Aug. 118 Gill-maker and presser. 1853Ure Dict. Arts I. 758 This part of the machine..is generally termed the ‘gill-frame’ or ‘gill-head’. Ibid., gill-spreader. Ibid. 759 The screws or worm shaft for carrying the gill-bar. Ibid. 764 Gill-sheet. Gill-teeth. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 378/2 These gill-combs are heated by travelling over jets of gas. 1882Worc. Exhib. Catal. III. 31 Wool goes to Gill Box..to be gilled. 1885Census Instr. 43 Gill Maker, Gill Bars Maker, Gill Stock Maker. Ibid. 65 Gill-setter.
▪ IX. gill, v.1|gɪl|
Also 5 gylle, gyllyn, 6 gyll.
[f. gill n.1]
1. trans. To gut or clean (fish). † Formerly also, to eviscerate (beasts) (cf. giller, quot. 14..).
14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 581/13 Euiro [read eviscero], to gylle. c1440Promp. Parv. 194/1 Gyllyn, or gylle fysche, exentero. 1530Palsgr. 566/1, I gyll fysshe, je oste la branche. 1881P. B. Du Chaillu Land Midnt. 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.
†2. To handle the gills of, take hold of by the gills. Obs.—1
1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 335 The fishes in the Lake of Venus..presented themselves, enduring to be scratched, gilled, and mens hands to be put in their mouthes.
3. To cut away the gills of a mushroom.
1728E. Smith Compl. Housew. (ed. 2) 75 Take the large Mushrooms..cut off the Stalks, but do not peel or gill them.
4. To catch or entangle (fish) by the gills in a gill-net. Said also of the net.
1884Roe Nat. Ser. Story v, A bass of nine pounds weight can be..‘gilled’ in the ordinary manner. 1892Graphic 13 Aug. 194/1 Another system of 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.
Hence gilled ppl. a.; ˈgilling vbl. n.; also Comb., as gilling-knife, gilling-thread.
c1440Promp. Parv. 194/1 Gyllynge of fysche, exenteracio. 1615E. S. Brit. Buss in Arb. Garner III. 631 Tools and Implements used in drying and packing of Herring[s]. Gipping or Gilling knives. 1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 36 Netting Threads..Gilling Threads..Flax Threads.
▪ X. gill, v.2 local.|dʒɪl|
[f. gill n.3]
Hence ˈgilling vbl. n. (See quots.)
1795Aikin Manchester 183 The bad custom of gilling, or drinking white wine as a whet before dinner. 1855Robinson Whitby Gloss. s.v. Jilling, ‘He goes jilling about’, drinking his half-pints at different places, as the toper. 1855Strang Glasgow (1856) 123 Forenoon gilling prevailed through the whole range of the different craftsmen.
▪ XI. gill, v.3 techn.|gɪl|
[f. gill n.8]
trans. To dress (flax or wool) by means of a gill. Hence gilled ppl. a.; ˈgilling vbl. n. (in quot. attrib.).
1882Worc. 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. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Gilling-machine, a gill-frame. |