a natural elevation of the earth's surface, smaller than a mountain.
an incline, especially in a road.
This old jalopy won't make it up the next hill.
an artificial heap, pile, or mound.
a hill made by ants.
a small mound of earth raised about a cultivated plant or a cluster of such plants.
the plant or plants so surrounded.
a hill of potatoes.
Baseball. mound.
the Hill. Capitol Hill.
to surround with hills.
to hill potatoes.
to form into a hill or heap.
go over the hill,
to break out of prison.
to absent oneself without leave from one's military unit.
to leave suddenly or mysteriously.
Rumor has it that her husband has gone over the hill.
over the hill,
relatively advanced in age.
past one's prime.
Ambrose Powell 1825–65, Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War.
Archibald Vivian 1886–1977, English physiologist: Nobel Prize in Medicine 1922.
James Jerome, 1838–1916, U.S. railroad builder and financier, born in Canada.
Joe, 1879–1915, U.S. labor organizer and songwriter, born in Sweden.
a conspicuous and often rounded natural elevation of the earth's surface, less high or craggy than a mountain
( in combination )
a hillside
a hilltop
a heap or mound made by a person or animal
( in combination )
a dunghill
an incline; slope
informal beyond one's prime
slang military absent without leave or deserting
strenuously and persistently
to form into a hill or mound
to cover or surround with a mound or heap of earth
Archibald Vivian. 1886–1977, British biochemist, noted for his research into heat loss in muscle contraction: shared the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine (1922)
Damon Graham Devereux, son of Graham Hill. born 1960, British motor-racing driver; Formula One world champion (1996)
David Octavius 1802–70, Scottish painter and portrait photographer, noted esp for his collaboration with the chemist Robert Adamson (1821–48)
Sir Geoffrey ( William ). born 1932, British poet: his books include King Log (1968), Mercian Hymns (1971), The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy (1983), and The Orchards of Syon (2002)
Graham. 1929–75, British motor-racing driver: world champion (1962, 1968)
Octavia. 1838–1912, British housing reformer; a founder of the National Trust
Sir Rowland. 1795–1879, British originator of the penny postage
Susan ( Elizabeth ). born 1942, British novelist and writer of short stories: her books include I'm the King of the Castle (1970) The Woman in Black (1983), and Felix Derby (2002)
before 1000; Middle English; Old English hyll; cognate with Middle Dutch hille, Latin collis hill; compare Latin culmen top, peak ( see column, culminate), celsus lofty, very high, Gothic hallus rock, Lithuanian kálnas mountain, Greek kolōnós hill, kolophṓn summit ( see colophon)
A hill is a high ridge or mound of land, not as tall as a mountain. A house on a hill has a great view of the surrounding countryside, and very little chance of being flooded. You can hike or drive up a hill — a gentle upward slope, in either case. An accidental or deliberate mound of stuff is another kind of hill, like a hill of snow in your yard, or a hill of trash at the dump. What's considered a hill in mountainous India — a height of up to 10,000 feet — is absolutely a mountain in Great Britain, where a hill is defined as an elevation of less than 2,000 feet.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The next hill to conquer is social control.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
Universal placed speakers on the old special effects and stunt buildings to see how ride screams traveled down the hill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
“Don’t fix something that isn’t broken,” said Ginger Wallis, 50 years old, who lives at the base of a hill covered in flammable grass, her eyes flashing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
This means that your savings have a steeper hill to climb: a longer-than-expected lifespan can put considerable strain on even a well-funded plan, increasing exposure to market volatility, inflation, taxes and healthcare costs.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
I’d imagined walking into the house on the hill more times than I could count.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
In a tribute on its Facebook page, Breeze Hill Bar, Eatery and Hotel, where Lucy worked, said she was "exceptionally good at looking after our customers, many of whom will miss her lots".
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
The 2026 Notting Hill Carnival will take place in west London from 29 to 31 August, with millions expected to attend Europe's largest street festival.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
One person is dead after catastrophic flooding swept through the Texas Hill Country one year after fast-moving floods devastated a girls camp along the Guadalupe River.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
On its March earnings call, Hill called soccer “the next sport to fully transform” under its turnaround strategy and said it would use the World Cup to “catalyze the football marketplace for quarters to come.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
As Booth rode on, he searched the horizon for Soper’s Hill, the chosen meeting place with Herold.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
It is a place out of time, reached by a rocky road between arid hills and the sea where you have to dodge stray cows, goats and wild horses.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
“Set against a backdrop of rolling hills, this thoughtfully upgraded residence delivers a lifestyle defined by comfort, connection, and effortless indoor-outdoor flow,” the listing notes.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
The Minions restage the most famous stunts of Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton and provide an alternative history of how the famous Hollywoodland sign in the hills got shortened to Hollywood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
I also avoid making a towering high volcano, instead sticking to small piles or hills, since I like to enjoy my mashed potatoes steaming hot.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026
“I said to myself, ‘Duane, hills or mountains or icebergs do not talk.’
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
When the plants were about knee high they were "hilled up," as the Indian had done his corn, or the Englishman his cabbage, and considered "laid by."
From Tobacco in Colonial Virginia "The Sovereign Remedy" by Herndon, G. Melvin
In cultivating I keep the surface level, as they do better if kept in this way than if they are hilled up.
From Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 4, January 26, 1884 A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside by Various
Holes were then to be dug at least 8 feet apart, one foot square, and one foot deep, and in each two or three roots planted and well hilled up.
From A Short History of English Agriculture by Curtler, W. H. R. (William Henry Ricketts)
The corn, as soon as shot out of the earth, is weeded: when it mounts up, and its stalks are an inch big, it is hilled, to secure it against the wind.
From History of Louisisana Or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina: Containing by Le Page du Pratz
Dusty and weary, but in excellent spirits over the large space that he and the hired man had "hilled up," he went whistling home through the long shadows of the June evening.
From Without a Home by Roe, Edward Payson
Prevailing industry practices often involve the concentrated application of fertilizers during the planting or hilling phases, particularly in Atlantic Canada.
From Salon ● Nov. 28, 2023
At the usual first hilling time, Dowding pulls a little nearby compost around each plant in a minimound, later adding more from the heap as the plants need hilling again.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2023
He mentions that the Potawatomi word for “hill” is a verb: “Hills are always in the process of hilling, they are actively being hills.”
From New York Times ● May 27, 2020
On an afternoon in March, Loïc Gouzer, a specialist in contemporary art at Christie’s New York, attended a hilling session to survey several works that had been secured for an upcoming auction.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 27, 2016
If I set him to hoeing corn or hilling potatoes, I'd always find him stopping to chase hop-toads, or off after chip-squirrels.
From The May Flower, and Miscellaneous Writings by Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
