hill
noun
a natural elevation of the earth's surface, smaller than a mountain.
hill
1 American
[hil]
/ hɪl /
noun
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hills
plural
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a natural elevation of the earth's surface, smaller than a mountain.
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an incline, especially in a road.
This old jalopy won't make it up the next hill.
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an artificial heap, pile, or mound.
a hill made by ants.
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a small mound of earth raised about a cultivated plant or a cluster of such plants.
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the plant or plants so surrounded.
a hill of potatoes.
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Baseball. mound.
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the Hill. Capitol Hill.
verb (used with object)
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hills,
present (3rd person singular)
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hilled,
past participle, past
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hilling
present participle
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to surround with hills.
to hill potatoes.
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to form into a hill or heap.
idioms
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go over the hill,
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to break out of prison.
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to absent oneself without leave from one's military unit.
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to leave suddenly or mysteriously.
Rumor has it that her husband has gone over the hill.
-
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over the hill,
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relatively advanced in age.
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past one's prime.
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Hill
2
American
[hil]
/ hɪl /
noun
-
Ambrose Powell 1825–65, Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War.
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Archibald Vivian 1886–1977, English physiologist: Nobel Prize in Medicine 1922.
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James Jerome, 1838–1916, U.S. railroad builder and financier, born in Canada.
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Joe, 1879–1915, U.S. labor organizer and songwriter, born in Sweden.
hill
1
British
/ hɪl /
noun
-
-
a conspicuous and often rounded natural elevation of the earth's surface, less high or craggy than a mountain
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( in combination )
a hillside
a hilltop
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-
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a heap or mound made by a person or animal
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( in combination )
a dunghill
-
-
an incline; slope
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-
informal beyond one's prime
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slang military absent without leave or deserting
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strenuously and persistently
verb
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to form into a hill or mound
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to cover or surround with a mound or heap of earth
Hill
2
British
/ hɪl /
noun
-
Archibald Vivian. 1886–1977, British biochemist, noted for his research into heat loss in muscle contraction: shared the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine (1922)
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Damon Graham Devereux, son of Graham Hill. born 1960, British motor-racing driver; Formula One world champion (1996)
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David Octavius 1802–70, Scottish painter and portrait photographer, noted esp for his collaboration with the chemist Robert Adamson (1821–48)
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Sir Geoffrey ( William ). born 1932, British poet: his books include King Log (1968), Mercian Hymns (1971), The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy (1983), and The Orchards of Syon (2002)
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Graham. 1929–75, British motor-racing driver: world champion (1962, 1968)
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Octavia. 1838–1912, British housing reformer; a founder of the National Trust
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Sir Rowland. 1795–1879, British originator of the penny postage
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Susan ( Elizabeth ). born 1942, British novelist and writer of short stories: her books include I'm the King of the Castle (1970) The Woman in Black (1983), and Felix Derby (2002)
hill
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hillsimple
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hillssimple
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have hilledperfect
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has hilledperfect
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am hillingprogressive
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are hillingprogressive
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is hillingprogressive
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have been hillingperfect progressive
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has been hillingperfect progressive
Past
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hilledsimple
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had hilledperfect
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was hillingprogressive
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were hillingprogressive
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had been hillingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hill
before 1000; Middle English; Old English hyll; cognate with Middle Dutch hille, Latin collis hill; compare Latin culmen top, peak ( see column, culminate), celsus lofty, very high, Gothic hallus rock, Lithuanian kálnas mountain, Greek kolōnós hill, kolophṓn summit ( see colophon)
Explanation
A hill is a high ridge or mound of land, not as tall as a mountain. A house on a hill has a great view of the surrounding countryside, and very little chance of being flooded. You can hike or drive up a hill — a gentle upward slope, in either case. An accidental or deliberate mound of stuff is another kind of hill, like a hill of snow in your yard, or a hill of trash at the dump. What's considered a hill in mountainous India — a height of up to 10,000 feet — is absolutely a mountain in Great Britain, where a hill is defined as an elevation of less than 2,000 feet.
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.
See Examples For:
"We both live on a farm, and it's a hill farm with lots of sheep, so we need the sheep dogs as every day work," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
The Department of Building and Safety also red-tagged portions of a damaged structure — a vacated commercial building, Lantz said — at the base of the hill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
You don’t know where either track goes beyond the bottom of the hill, and you can’t see whether either track is obstructed.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
Workers swarmed the mound of metal like ants on a hill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
I point to the intersection with Overlook Drive, where the hill is.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
A cordon remains in place outside the house in Fern Hill and a Home Office post-mortem examination was due to be carried out on Monday.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Line judge Jeff Seeman has been suspended for two games and referee Adrian Hill for one fixture following the incidents on Sunday.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
While that was several years ago at this point, it appears that Hill and the Chiefs have mutual interest in a possible reunion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
Centalion, the commodities trader formerly known as Gunvor, has bought a collection of natural-gas assets from Silver Hill Energy Partners in a deal valued at around $1.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
I considered the bumpy ride down Purgatory Hill and into the grove, where I would lean my bike against an old oak and go find my dog.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
Mist hangs over steep green hills; figures move through forests and village paths; fire and lamplight pick faces out of the darkness.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
From that restaurant Cardoso could look out the window and see sloping hills and Lucas’ Wagyu cows raised there on the farm.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
PIDDINGTON, England—This quiet Oxfordshire village boasts a 14th-century church, a small village hall, quaint thatched roofs and pleasant countryside walks in rolling hills.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
And while Pietersen was educated in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and Brook under the Cumbrian hills in Sedbergh, they come from the same cricketing school.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Papa stopped and started looking around at the hills.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
They are set at the distance of three or four feet apart, and are hilled, and kept continually free from weeds.
Holes were then to be dug at least 8 feet apart, one foot square, and one foot deep, and in each two or three roots planted and well hilled up.
From A Short History of English Agriculture by W. H. R. (William Henry Ricketts) Curtler
I think I hilled those spuds, too, with furrows—or a crop of Indian corn I put in later on.
From Joe Wilson and His Mates by Henry Lawson
They are usually hilled up pretty well after starting to grow well.
From One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered by Edward J. (Edward James) Wickson
There was little work for Paul to do in the village; but he kept their own garden in good trim,—the onion-bed clear of weeds, and the potatoes well hilled.
From Winning His Way by Charles Carleton Coffin
Prevailing industry practices often involve the concentrated application of fertilizers during the planting or hilling phases, particularly in Atlantic Canada.
From Salon ● Nov. 28, 2023
At the usual first hilling time, Dowding pulls a little nearby compost around each plant in a minimound, later adding more from the heap as the plants need hilling again.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2023
He mentions that the Potawatomi word for “hill” is a verb: “Hills are always in the process of hilling, they are actively being hills.”
From New York Times ● May 27, 2020
On an afternoon in March, Loïc Gouzer, a specialist in contemporary art at Christie’s New York, attended a hilling session to survey several works that had been secured for an upcoming auction.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 27, 2016
The operation of "hilling" consists in drawing up the soil about the stems of growing plants, usually at the time of second or third hoeing.
From Home Vegetable Gardening — a Complete and Practical Guide to the Planting and Care of All Vegetables, Fruits and Berries Worth Growing for Home Use by F. F. (Frederick Frye) Rockwell
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.
