dells

[delz]

plural noun

dalles.

Origin of dells

by construal as a plural of dell

dell

[del]

noun

a small, usually wooded valley; vale.

Origin of dell

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

Dell

[del]

noun

a male or female given name.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for dells

glen, dale, glade, dingle, vale

Examples from the Web for dells

Historical Examples of dells

Now many were the hills and dells haunted by the fairy folk.
Stories from the Ballads
Mary MacGregor
We are delighted to hear that your little folks like the dells.
Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume V (of 10)
John Gibson Lockhart
I am the same Œnone whom thou didst woo in the dells of woody Ida.
Museum of Antiquity
L. W. Yaggy
It is located on the left at the entrance to the wild grandeur of the Dells.
Baraboo, Dells, and Devil's Lake Region
H. E. Cole
Besides the Dells there are other places of interest at beautiful Kilbourn.
Baraboo, Dells, and Devil's Lake Region
H. E. Cole

British Dictionary definitions for dells

dell

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 dells

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]

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.).