sill

¹

[sil]

noun

1. a horizontal timber, block, or the like serving as a foundation of a wall, house, etc.

2. the horizontal piece or member beneath a window, door, or other opening.

3. Geology.,  a tabular body of intrusive igneous rock, ordinarily between beds of sedimentary rocks or layers of volcanic ejecta.

Sill

²

[sil]

noun

1. Mount, a mountain in E central California, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 14,153 feet (4,314 meters).

sill

/ sɪl /

noun

1. a shelf at the bottom of a window inside a room

2. a horizontal piece along the outside lower member of a window, that throws water clear of the wall below

3. the lower horizontal member of a window or door frame

4. a continuous horizontal member placed on top of a foundation wall in order to carry a timber framework

5. a flat usually horizontal mass of igneous rock, situated between two layers of older sedimentary rock, that was formed by an intrusion of magma

sill

1. A sheet of igneous rock intruded between layers of older rock.

2. See illustration at batholith

Other Word Forms

• sill-like adjective
• undersill noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sill¹

before 900; Middle English sille, Old English syl, sylle; cognate with Low German süll, Old Norse syll; akin to German Schwelle sill

Word History and Origins

Origin of sill¹

Old English syll; related to Old Norse svill sill, Icelandic svoli tree trunk, Old High German swella sill, Latin solum ground

Example Sentences

The Red Sea was initially connected from the north to the Mediterranean through a shallow sill.

Read more on Science Daily

Often it seems, this cosy spot would appear to be a window sill, as ladybirds can easily squeeze through the small gaps around loose fitting windows.

Read more on BBC

Political analysts cautioned that the race is sill wide open, with one expert declining to speculate during the “embryonic” stages as the field takes shape.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

First, though, she needed to crawl out a narrow ladies’ room window and stand up on the sill.

Read more on Literature

This rigid material must be custom cut and fit tight between the floor joists, subfloor and sill plate.

Read more on Seattle Times

Related Words

• girder 
• joist 
• piling 
• pillar 
• plank 
• pole 
• shaft 
• timber