sill
- 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
Sill
- Mount, a mountain in E central California, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 14,153 feet (4314 meters).
Related Words for sill
rim, ridge, berm, sill, girder, scaffolding, joist, shaft, pillar, pole, plank, timber, brink, verge, bar, reef, mantle, track, routeExamples 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.
Another journalist begged him to do a sill walk live on stage then and there, but he demurred.
The sill is freezing in the winter and stultifyingly hot in the summer.
Historical Examples of sill
"You let me step in," answered Mattie, a determined foot on the sill.
Tiverton TalesAlice Brown
Presently the rod must have tapped the sill, with such a start did she face about.
The CavalierGeorge Washington Cable
In a moment he had slipped over the sill and stood upon the porch.
The Inn at the Red OakLatta Griswold
She put her elbows on the sill of the window and rested her face in her hands.
A Spirit in PrisonRobert Hichens
I'll get on the sill and see what I can do through the top o' the window.
The Burning SpearJohn Galsworthy
sill
- 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
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
- A sheet of igneous rock intruded between layers of older rock. See illustration at batholith.