rill1
[ril]
- a small rivulet or brook.
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Origin of rill1
1530–40; < Dutch or Low German; compare Frisian ril
rill2
or rille
[ril]
- any of certain long, narrow, straight or sinuous trenches or valleys observed on the surface of the moon.
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Origin of rill2
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for rills
Historical Examples
There is a large fountain of these running in ten thousand rills.
The Martins Of Cro' Martin, Vol. I (of II)Charles James Lever
When the rain ceases, the rills, brooks, and creeks run dry.
Where are the shadows of the solemn hills, And the fresh music of the summer rills?
PoemsFrances Anne Butler
The rills which drain the eastern slope carry much of this broken stuff into a small arroyo that winds to the left of the mesilla.
Many of the rills were artificial, leading from one rice field to another.
Mark SeaworthWilliam H.G. Kingston
rill
- a brook or stream; rivulet
- a small channel or gulley, such as one formed during soil erosion
- Also: rille one of many winding cracks on the moon
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Word Origin
C15: from Low German rille; related to Dutch ril
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 rills
rill
n.
"small brook, rivulet," 1530s, from or related to Dutch and Frisian ril, Low German rille "groove, furrow, running stream," probably from Proto-Germanic *ril- (cf. Old English rið, riþe "brook, stream," which survives only in dialects), a diminutive form from PIE root *reie- "to run, flow" (see Rhine).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper