dell
noun
a small, usually wooded valley; vale.
dell
1 American
[del]
/ dɛl /
noun
-
dells
plural
Dell
2
American
[del]
/ dɛl /
noun
dell'
3
American
[del]
/ dɛl /
dell
British
/ dɛl /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dell
before 1000; Middle English delle, Old English dell; akin to dale
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:
“They buried her in a pink blanket, down in the dell by my dad’s house. But afterwards they said it was a boy.”
From The Guardian ● Sep. 14, 2018
A tiny church stands nestled in a dell against steep, forested hills.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 1, 2018
Presiding over this in the Church of Santa Maria delle Anime dell Purgatorio is an actual crowned skull called “Lucia” and a sculptural masterpiece of a winged skull.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2011
They brandish swords, rip through forest and dell, steal from the rich to benefit the poor and make mischief and romance, all with panache and verve.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 26, 2011
On the western flank of Weathertop they found a sheltered hollow, at the bottom of which there was a bowl-shaped dell with grassy sides.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
That includes the $6.25 billion donation from Michael and Susan Dell that will send $250 each to 250 million children 10 and younger who live in certain areas.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
"Somebody would come up with a suggestion for doing something, he'd enjoy saying, 'I don't think Dell would be able to manage that, let's think of something else'."
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
A consortium led by Dell Chief Executive Michael Dell’s DFO Management is taking insurance brokerage Baldwin Group private in a cash deal valued at $7.7 billion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Dell Chief Executive Michael Dell’s DFO Management, along with Sequence Holdings, is taking insurance brokerage Baldwin Group private in a cash deal with an enterprise value of $7.7 billion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Dell Duke didn't know that my experience in this arena was very limited.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
The work features Punchinello, the hook-nosed, humpbacked clowns who were some of the stock characters taken from the Commedia dell' Arte - an early form of professional theatre.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2021
Blending song and satire, commcdia dell' arte garb and Brechtian notions, Joan Littlewood and her "thinking clowns" effectively depict the foolishness and ironies of the 1914-18 war.
From Time Magazine Archive
A group of 97 artists and critics demanded the resignation of the Biennale's organizer, Professor Gian-Alberto dell' Acqua.
From Time Magazine Archive
But the worry was not in evidence in the Piazza dell' Unita.
From Time Magazine Archive
A translation of Gozzi's own account of The Love of the Three Oranges, important in the history of the Commedia dell' Arte, and illustrative of the way in which Gozzi handled his fabulous material.—6.
From The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi; Volume the First by Carlo Gozzi
It's humps, hollows and greens on plateaus and in dells with its two loops of nines along the water make it a ideal links venue and one worthy of a visit.
From Golf Digest ● Jul. 18, 2017
A lithe athlete and a musician skilled on the mandolin and guitar, Bailey was raised in the mountains and dells of the Adirondacks in New York and has skied biathlon for a decade.
From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2016
Instead of the suburban vistas, there are deep dells, overhanging trees, shaded walks, radiant flowers and glowing colours.
From BBC ● May 26, 2013
I have watched a misty pink sunrise across gentle Indiana, seen the farms and autumnal dells of Wisconsin, the wheeling perspectives of corn fields, pumpkin fields, harrowed earth and prairie roads.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 19, 2010
As they prepared for sleep in the inn at Bree, darkness lay on Buckland; a mist strayed in the dells and along the river-bank.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
