jill

Multiple Entries:
  jill    gill  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
jill

▶noun variant spelling of gill4.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
gill1 /gɪl/

▶noun

• 1 the paired respiratory organ of fishes and some amphibians, by which oxygen is extracted from water flowing over surfaces within or attached to the walls of the pharynx.

• 2 the vertical plates arranged radially on the underside of mushrooms and many toadstools.

• 3 (gills) the wattles or dewlap of a fowl.

▶verb

• 1 gut or clean (a fish).

• 2 catch (a fish) in a gill net.

– phrases
green about (or around) the gills looking or feeling nauseous.
to the gills until completely full.

– derivatives
-gilled adjective.

– origin ME: from ON.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
gill2 /dʒɪl/

▶noun a unit of liquid measure, equal to a quarter of a pint.

– origin ME: from OFr. gille ‘measure or container for wine’, from late L. gillo ‘water pot’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
gill3 /gɪl/ (also ghyll)

▶noun chiefly N. English

• 1 a deep ravine, especially a wooded one.

• 2 a narrow mountain stream.

– origin ME: from ON gil ‘deep glen’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
gill4 /dʒɪl/ (also jill)

▶noun a female ferret. Compare with hob2.

– origin ME: abbrev. of the given name Gillian.