dells

[ delz ]

/ dɛlz /

plural noun

dalles.

RELATED WORDS

glen, dale, glade, dingle, vale

Nearby words

Origin of dells

by construal as a plural of dell

dell

[ del ]

/ dɛl /

noun

a small, usually wooded valley; vale.

Origin of dell

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

Dell

[ del ]

/ dɛl /

noun

a male or female given name.

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

Examples from the Web for dells

The dying and the wounded lay in masses in the dells and ravines below.
Memoirs of the Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp|John Shipp
I am the same Œnone whom thou didst woo in the dells of woody Ida.
Museum of Antiquity|L. W. Yaggy
The Covenanters met to worship God in the moorlands and dells, setting a watch for the dragoons of Claverhouse.
The Covenants And The Covenanters|Various
The Navy Yard exhibits the geological formation of the Dells in the superlative degree.
Baraboo, Dells, and Devil's Lake Region|H. E. Cole

Labyrinthine walks met us in every direction, leading to bowers and dells and wildernesses innumerable.
Harper's Young People, June 1, 1880|Various

British Dictionary definitions for dells

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 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.).