sill

[sil]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sill ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a horizontal timber, block, or the like serving as a foundation of a wall, house, etc.

the horizontal piece or member beneath a window, door, or other opening.

Geology. a tabular body of intrusive igneous rock, ordinarily between beds of sedimentary rocks or layers of volcanic ejecta.

Origin of sill

before 900; Middle English sille, Old English syl, sylle; cognate with Low German süll, Old Norse syll; akin to German Schwelle sill

Related formssill-like, adjectiveun·der·sill, noun

Sill

[sil]

noun

Mount, a mountain in E central California, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 14,153 feet (4314 meters).

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for sill

rim, ridge, berm, girder, scaffolding, joist, shaft, pillar, pole, plank, timber, brink, verge, bar, reef, mantle, track, route, console

Examples from the Web for sill

Contemporary Examples of sill

We stood in the open doors with one foot resting on the sill and an elbow cocked on the roof, looking cool.
P.J. O’Rourke on Grabbing the Keys to Happiness
P. J. O’Rourke
January 24, 2014
Another journalist begged him to do a sill walk live on stage then and there, but he demurred.
Monty Python—Not Dead Yet
Tom Sykes
November 21, 2013
The sill is freezing in the winter and stultifyingly hot in the summer.
The Bag Lady Papers Cont'd
Alexandra Penney
December 22, 2008

Historical Examples of sill

"You let me step in," answered Mattie, a determined foot on the sill.
Tiverton Tales
Alice Brown
Presently the rod must have tapped the sill, with such a start did she face about.
The Cavalier
George Washington Cable
In a moment he had slipped over the sill and stood upon the porch.
The Inn at the Red Oak
Latta Griswold
She put her elbows on the sill of the window and rested her face in her hands.
A Spirit in Prison
Robert Hichens
I'll get on the sill and see what I can do through the top o' the window.
The Burning Spear
John Galsworthy

British Dictionary definitions for sill

sill

noun

a shelf at the bottom of a window inside a room

a horizontal piece along the outside lower member of a window, that throws water clear of the wall below

the lower horizontal member of a window or door frame

a continuous horizontal member placed on top of a foundation wall in order to carry a timber framework

a flat usually horizontal mass of igneous rock, situated between two layers of older sedimentary rock, that was formed by an intrusion of magma

Word Origin for sill

Old English syll; related to Old Norse svill sill, Icelandic svoli tree trunk, Old High German swella sill, Latin solum ground

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 sill

Old English syll "beam, threshold, large timber serving as a foundation of a wall," from Proto-Germanic *suljo (cf. Old Norse svill, Swedish syll, Danish syld "framework of a building," Middle Low German sull, Old High German swelli, German Schwelle "sill"), perhaps from PIE root *swel- (3) "post, board" (cf. Greek selma "beam"). Meaning "lower horizontal part of a window opening" is recorded from early 15c.

sill in Science

sill

[sĭl]

A sheet of igneous rock intruded between layers of older rock. See illustration at batholith.