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• gill
  gill

  noun

  the respiratory organ of aquatic animals, as fish, that breathe oxygen dissolved in water.
• Gill
  Gill

  noun

  a male given name.

gill

¹ American  

[gil] / gɪl /

noun

1. the respiratory organ of aquatic animals, as fish, that breathe oxygen dissolved in water.

2. Also called lamella.  one of the radiating vertical plates on the underside of the cap of an agaric mushroom.

3. ground ivy.

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verb (used with object)

1. to gut or clean (fish).

2. to catch (fish) by the gills in a gill net.

idioms

1. green / white around the gills, somewhat pale, as from being sickly, nervous, or frightened.

   The tourists were seasick—all of them green around the gills as the boat rocked back to shore.

2. to the gills, completely; fully; totally.

   After that big meal we were all stuffed to the gills.

gill ² American  

[jil] / dʒɪl /

noun

1. a unit of liquid measure equal to ¼ pint (118.2937 milliliters).

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gill ³ American  

[gil] / gɪl /

noun

British.

1. a deep rocky cleft or wooded ravine forming the course of a stream.

2. a stream; brook; rivulet.

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gill ⁴ American  

[jil] / dʒɪl /

noun

Archaic.

1. a girl or young woman, especially a sweetheart.

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gill ⁵ American  

[gil] / gɪl /

noun

1. a faller used in the combing process, generally for only the highest-quality fibers.

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verb (used with object)

1. to comb (fibers) with a gill.

Gill ⁶ American  

[gil, jil] / gɪl, dʒɪl /

noun

1. a male given name.

2. a female given name.

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gill ¹ British  

/ ɡɪl /

noun

1. a narrow stream; rivulet

2. a wooded ravine

3. (capital when part of place name) a deep natural hole in rock; pothole

   Gaping Gill

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gill ² British  

/ dʒɪl /

noun

1. a unit of liquid measure equal to one quarter of a pint

2. dialect half a pint, esp of beer

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gill ³ British  

/ dʒɪl /

noun

1. archaic a girl or sweetheart

2. Also spelt: jill.  dialect a female ferret

3. an archaic or dialect name for ground ivy

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Gill ⁴ British  

/ ɡɪl /

noun

1. ( Arthur ) Eric ( Rowton ). 1882–1940, British sculptor, engraver, and typographer: his sculptures include the Stations of the Cross in Westminster Cathedral, London

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gill ⁵ British  

/ ɡɪl /

noun

1. the respiratory organ in many aquatic animals, consisting of a membrane or outgrowth well supplied with blood vessels. External gills occur in tadpoles, some molluscs, etc; internal gills , within gill slits, occur in most fishes

2. any of the radiating leaflike spore-producing structures on the undersurface of the cap of a mushroom

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verb

1. to catch (fish) or (of fish) to be caught in a gill net

2. (tr) to gut (fish)

gill Scientific  

/ gĭl /

1. The organ that enables most aquatic animals to take dissolved oxygen from the water. It consists of a series of membranes that have many small blood vessels. Oxygen passes into the bloodstream and carbon dioxide passes out of it as water flows across the membranes.

2. One of the thin strips of tissue on the underside of the cap of many species of basidiomycete fungi. Gills produce the spore-bearing structures known as basidia.

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Other Word Forms

• gill-less
  adjective
• gill-like
  adjective
• gilled
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of gill¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English gile, from Scandinavian; compare Old Norse gjǫlnar, from unattested gelnō; cognate with Swedish gäl, Danish gælle, Norwegian gjelle “gill”

Origin of gill²

First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English gille, from Old French: “vat, tub,” from Late Latin gello, gillo “water pot”

Origin of gill³

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English gille, from Old Norse gil

Origin of gill⁴

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English gil(le) (generic use of Gil(le), short form of Gillian; see Gillian

Origin of gill⁵

First recorded in 1830–40; perhaps special use of gill ¹

Explanation

A gill is the body part that helps a fish breathe underwater. In fish and other aquatic creatures, their gills are equivalent to our lungs. Fish and some amphibians need to breathe the oxygen in water to live, and they use their gills for this. Gills are the main organs of respiration for animals that live in or under the water. The root of gill is uncertain, but it may be related to the Old Norse gjölnar, "gills," and rooted in the Proto-Indo-European ghel-una, or "jaw."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gill Gill

To build a version for laundry, the researchers recreated the gill arch system and tested different mesh sizes and funnel opening angles.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 22, 2025

NRW said Samuel deliberately used a large spinning bait with a barbed treble hook, and when the fish was examined by the officer the lure was still lodged deep in its throat and gill rackers.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2024

But by the time the video footage begins, the underdog octopus had already asserted its toughness, blocking off the eel’s eyes and stuffing arms into its mouth and out the gill hole.

From New York Times ● May 17, 2024

Their wiggling catch arrives alive, not smushed as in a purse seine, or ripped and bleeding from a gill net.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 15, 2024

The gray-haired man turned his head to see what the gill was doing.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger

Matthew Gill, a statistician for Statistics Jersey, said, when looking back at figures going back to 2001, there had not been much a change in real-term earnings.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

Theatre director, playwright and actor Peter Gill, who has died aged 86, has been described as a "gentle man with a fierce intelligence" who had a "quietly seismic" influence on British theatre.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

"AI has thrown developing economies a lifeline, and they should seize it," Indermit Gill, chief economist of the World Bank Group, said as the organization launched its annual World Development Report.

From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026

“No need for massive investments in data centers or large language models,” wrote Gill.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

Gill nets were outlawed years ago in Florida because they kill everything that gets tangled, not just the baitfish but sharks, reds, snook, tarpon, turtles—you name it, it dies.

From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen

Related Words

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