rill

¹ American  

[ril] / rɪl /

noun

1. a small rivulet or brook.

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rill ² American  

[ril] / rɪl /

Or rille

noun

Astronomy.

1. any of certain long, narrow, straight or sinuous trenches or valleys observed on the surface of the moon.

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rill British  

/ rɪl /

noun

1. a brook or stream; rivulet

2. a small channel or gulley, such as one formed during soil erosion

3. Also: rille.  one of many winding cracks on the moon

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Etymology

Origin of rill¹

1530–40; < Dutch or Low German; compare Frisian ril

Origin of rill²

1885–90; < German Rille; rill ¹

Example Sentences

My filly’s whinny, timid trill: I’m sitting by this icy rill, In wintry, frigid wild?

From Washington Post • Nov. 10, 2022

Water, and lack of water, is a recurring theme, represented by two ponds connected by a dry rill.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2020

It’s hard to ascribe majesty to such a dirty, ruin-crowded waterway, a rill so narrow it can be easily spanned by a well-thrown baseball.

From Salon • Feb. 24, 2013

She out-poker-faces that other Helen of California, and she knows instantly every rill of information that affects or may affect the University.

From Time Magazine Archive

He returned to the bank, close to where the rill from the spring trickled out into the River.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien