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.
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
before 900; Middle English sille, Old English syl, sylle; cognate with Low German süll, Old Norse syll; akin to German Schwelle sill
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“They write words on the sill between them and wipe them off, their palms and feet dark with dust.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 4, 2026
The Red Sea was initially connected from the north to the Mediterranean through a shallow sill.
From Science Daily • Oct. 8, 2025
“It’s the law,” the not-unkind super replies — though Alex, now 2, can barely sit up, let alone reach the sill.
From New York Times • Apr. 23, 2024
The hearing was told Sir Bobby had lost his balance as he stood up from his chair, striking a window sill and "possibly a radiator".
From BBC • Nov. 1, 2023
Pippin had to climb on the bench to look out over the deep stone sill.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
