gillie
Americannoun
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Scot.
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a hunting or fishing guide.
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a male attendant or personal servant to a Highland chieftain.
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noun
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an attendant or guide for hunting or fishing
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(formerly) a Highland chieftain's male attendant or personal servant
Etymology
Origin of gillie
First recorded in 1590–1600, gillie is from the Scots Gaelic word gille lad, servant
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He's what's known as a "gillie" and manages fishing along a stretch of the Wye – a river once famous for its Atlantic salmon fishing.
From BBC • Apr. 26, 2026
First she lost her adored husband, Albert, and never got over it, and then John Brown, her beloved Scots gillie, died on her.
From New York Times • Oct. 3, 2017
A pelican, taken from its cage to pose for a news-camera, wandered over to the fish exhibition and was diving for one of the lion-headed goldfish when interrupted by a goldfish gillie.
From Time Magazine Archive
Macmillan occasionally visits the Homes for the grouse shooting, and, friends say, was about to tip the gillie �2 one day, when the thrifty Earl advised him sharply: "Half as much will do."
From Time Magazine Archive
A gillie rode breakneck for Sir John, who was at the old fort nine miles away.
From Cardigan by Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
