dell

[ del ]

/ dɛl /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR dell ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a small, usually wooded valley; vale.

RELATED WORDS

glen, dale, glade, dingle, vale

Nearby words

Origin of dell

before 1000; Middle English delle, Old English dell; akin to dale

Dell

[ del ]

/ dɛl /

noun

a male or female given name.

dells

[ delz ]

/ dɛlz /

plural noun

dalles.

Origin of dells

by construal as a plural of dell

dell'

[ del ]

/ dɛl /

(in names of Italian derivation) an elided form of della: Giovanni dell' Anguillara.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for dell

Sadly, Dell was killed five weeks after performing this stunt, fatally injured in a different performance.
Dirtbike Flips over Stunt Plane|Alex Chancey, The Daily Beast Video|October 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“Oh, this is from 2005,” says Dell, a self-described Michelle Kwan “uber-fan” who lives in Yonkers.
Figure Skater Michelle Kwan Chases Gold in Rhode Island’s Gubernatorial Race|Nicholas McCarvel|April 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Today, on his desk, sits a Dell laptop and a copy of Lincoln The Man by Edgar Lee Masters.
This Civil War Reenactor Controls Christie’s Fate|Olivia Nuzzi|March 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Dell is faced with a cratering PC market as well as competitors like Amazon in the IT service industry.
Best Business Longreads|William O’Connor|November 10, 2013|DAILY BEAST

Powers buried all five bodies outside a garage in Quiet Dell, West Virginia, where he had confined and then killed them.
Murder, She Wrote: Jayne Anne Phillips on Her New Novel|Jane Ciabattari|October 21, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Maddalena dell' Armi had not believed that he would come, but she stopped at home that afternoon on the bare possibility.
Whosoever Shall Offend|F. Marion Crawford
"Holding these cattle is going to be no trouble at all," said Dell, as they rode homeward, at the end of the first day's herding.
Wells Brothers|Andy Adams
The old Commedia dell' Arte, as we have seen, had sunk into decrepitude.
The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi; Volume the first|Count Carlo Gozzi
At length, from a rising hill, they looked below them on the dell of Holywood.
The Black Arrow|Robert Louis Stevenson
I have already explained that Jack had drawn his musketeers across the dell, and placed the spearmen in the jungle on both flanks.
The Gorilla Hunters|R.M. Ballantyne

British Dictionary definitions for dell

dell

/ (dɛl) /

noun

a small, esp wooded hollow

Word Origin for dell

Old English; related to Middle Low German delle valley; compare dale

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for dell

dell

n.1

Old English dell "dell, hollow, dale" (perhaps lost and then borrowed in Middle English from cognate Middle Dutch/Middle Low German delle), from Proto-Germanic *daljo (cf. German Delle "dent, depression," Gothic ib-dalja "slope of a mountain"); related to dale (q.v.).

dell

n.2

rogue's cant 16c.-17c. for "a young girl of the vagrant class," of uncertain origin.

A Dell is a yonge wenche, able for generation, and not yet knowen or broken by the vpright man. ... [W]hen they have beene lyen with all by the vpright man then they be Doxes, and no Dells. [Thomas Harman, "A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors," 1567]