Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

sill

[sil]
See more synonyms for sill on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a horizontal timber, block, or the like serving as a foundation of a wall, house, etc.
  2. the horizontal piece or member beneath a window, door, or other opening.
  3. Geology. a tabular body of intrusive igneous rock, ordinarily between beds of sedimentary rocks or layers of volcanic ejecta.
Show More

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
  1. Mount, a mountain in E central California, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 14,153 feet (4314 meters).
Show More
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for sill

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • "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.

  • 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
  1. a shelf at the bottom of a window inside a room
  2. a horizontal piece along the outside lower member of a window, that throws water clear of the wall below
  3. the lower horizontal member of a window or door frame
  4. a continuous horizontal member placed on top of a foundation wall in order to carry a timber framework
  5. a flat usually horizontal mass of igneous rock, situated between two layers of older sedimentary rock, that was formed by an intrusion of magma
Show More

Word Origin

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

n.

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.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
sill in Science

sill

[sĭl]
  1. A sheet of igneous rock intruded between layers of older rock. See illustration at batholith.
Show More
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.