hill
noun
a natural elevation of the earth's surface, smaller than a mountain.
hill
1 American
[hil]
/ hɪl /
noun
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hills
plural
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a natural elevation of the earth's surface, smaller than a mountain.
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an incline, especially in a road.
This old jalopy won't make it up the next hill.
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an artificial heap, pile, or mound.
a hill made by ants.
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a small mound of earth raised about a cultivated plant or a cluster of such plants.
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the plant or plants so surrounded.
a hill of potatoes.
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Baseball. mound.
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the Hill. Capitol Hill.
verb (used with object)
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hills,
present (3rd person singular)
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hilled,
past participle, past
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hilling
present participle
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to surround with hills.
to hill potatoes.
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to form into a hill or heap.
idioms
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go over the hill,
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to break out of prison.
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to absent oneself without leave from one's military unit.
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to leave suddenly or mysteriously.
Rumor has it that her husband has gone over the hill.
-
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over the hill,
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relatively advanced in age.
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past one's prime.
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Hill
2
American
[hil]
/ hɪl /
noun
-
Ambrose Powell 1825–65, Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War.
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Archibald Vivian 1886–1977, English physiologist: Nobel Prize in Medicine 1922.
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James Jerome, 1838–1916, U.S. railroad builder and financier, born in Canada.
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Joe, 1879–1915, U.S. labor organizer and songwriter, born in Sweden.
hill
1
British
/ hɪl /
noun
-
-
a conspicuous and often rounded natural elevation of the earth's surface, less high or craggy than a mountain
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( in combination )
a hillside
a hilltop
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-
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a heap or mound made by a person or animal
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( in combination )
a dunghill
-
-
an incline; slope
-
-
informal beyond one's prime
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slang military absent without leave or deserting
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strenuously and persistently
verb
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to form into a hill or mound
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to cover or surround with a mound or heap of earth
Hill
2
British
/ hɪl /
noun
-
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)
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Damon Graham Devereux, son of Graham Hill. born 1960, British motor-racing driver; Formula One world champion (1996)
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David Octavius 1802–70, Scottish painter and portrait photographer, noted esp for his collaboration with the chemist Robert Adamson (1821–48)
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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)
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Graham. 1929–75, British motor-racing driver: world champion (1962, 1968)
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Octavia. 1838–1912, British housing reformer; a founder of the National Trust
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Sir Rowland. 1795–1879, British originator of the penny postage
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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)
hill
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hillsimple
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hillssimple
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have hilledperfect
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has hilledperfect
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am hillingprogressive
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are hillingprogressive
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is hillingprogressive
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have been hillingperfect progressive
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has been hillingperfect progressive
Past
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hilledsimple
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had hilledperfect
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was hillingprogressive
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were hillingprogressive
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had been hillingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hill
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)
Explanation
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.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Christensen led Lai, Woods and me to the top of a grassy hill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Before embarking on his mountaineering career, Purja served in Britain’s famed Gurkha army unit, which is overwhelmingly recruited from people of Nepal’s hill communities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
An AFP team in the village saw Israeli military vehicles operating on a nearby hill.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
"A wall of orange flames came roaring up over the hill," Barnes said.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
He trotted to the foot of the hill and stared at the right trail.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Jones grew up in Virginia and North Carolina before eventually attending the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to study writing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
The two sides meet at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday, 22 August, on the opening weekend of the Premier League campaign.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
More recently, technology executives have racked up the mileage jetting to Capitol Hill to speak on the issue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
If El-Sayed makes it to Capitol Hill, the win will represent, by far, Piker’s most impressive bounty yet.
From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026
Four years later, Satchmo moved from his old neighborhood to Marlow Hill, after his mother had taken a job as an office assistant at a veterinary clinic.
From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds
He has spent much of the past week hiding in the thick pine forest of the hills overlooking the city.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
Trapping Sophie in a crone’s body and making her realize how much harder it is to cross rolling hills and climb stairs gives her a new appreciation for everything she’s been taking for granted.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
According to witnesses spoken to by AFP, thousands of people who flocked to the border town of Fnideq were not stopped by the authorities, even as they approached the frontier across wooded hills.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
Glen Affric, near Cannich, is a large area of woodland, lochs, hills and mountains.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
We cut through hills full of scrubby bushes and speckled with orange poppies.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Beans should not be much hilled in hoeing, and should never be worked when wet.
From Soil Culture by Walden, J. H.
This frame is placed with the small end down at the point where the seeds are to be planted, and the earth is hilled up about it and firmly packed with the feet.
From Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) by Bailey, L. H. (Liberty Hyde)
I think I hilled those spuds, too, with furrows—or a crop of Indian corn I put in later on.
From Joe Wilson and His Mates by Lawson, Henry
It was better to have possession of the imperial seven hilled city, than of Gethsemane and Calvary with all their holy souvenirs.
From History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science by Draper, John William
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)
That hilling up promotes leeks with longer white shanks.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 31, 2024
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
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
This single operation will fit some of the early-planted sorts for market in the course of two weeks; though a second operation, called hilling, is usually considered desirable, even with the self-blanching sorts.
From Farm Gardening with Hints on Cheap Manuring Quick Cash Crops and How to Grow Them by Anonymous
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.
