rill

See also: Rill

English

Etymology

From or akin to West Frisian ril (“rill; a narrow channel”), Dutch ril (“rill; gully; trench; watercourse”), German Low German Rille, Rill (“a small channel; brook; furrow”), German Rille (“a groove; furrow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɪl

Noun

rill (plural rills)

1. A very small brook; a streamlet; a creek, rivulet.
   • 1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753, →OCLC:

     [N]or yet beside the rill / Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he

   • 1797, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Kubla Khan: Or A Vision in a Dream”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, →OCLC, pages 55–56:

     So twice five miles of fertile ground / With walls and towers were girdled round: / And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills, / Where blossom'd many an incense-bearing tree; / And here were forests ancient as the hills, / And folding sunny spots of greenery.

   • 1860, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay III. Wealth.”, in The Conduct of Life, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 101:

     The secret of success lies never in the amount of money, but in the relation of income to outgo; as if, after expense has been fixed at a certain point, then new and steady rills of income, though never so small, being added, wealth begins.

   • 1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 53:

     "Most of them don't wash. Those who do usually plunge their head into some brook or rill, if there happens to be one about."

   • 1955, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King:

     Light grew, and lo! the Company passed through another gateway, high-arched and broad, and a rill ran out beside them; and beyond, going steeply down, was a road between sheer cliffs, knife-edged against the sky far above.

2. (planetology) Alternative form of rille.

Derived terms

• rill erosion
• rillet

Translations

very small brook

• Aragonese: lavallo
• Bulgarian: ручей (bg) m (ručej), поточе n (potoče)
• Czech: potůček (cs) m, stružka f
• Finnish: noro (fi)
• French: ruisselet (fr) m
• Hungarian: ér (hu), csermely (hu)
• Irish: sruthán (ga) m, sruthlán m, silteán m
• Russian: ручеёк (ru) m (ručejók)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̀точић m

  Roman: pòtočić m

• Spanish: arroyito m
• Swedish: rännil (sv) c
• Ukrainian: струмо́чок (strumóčok)

Verb

rill (third-person singular simple present rills, present participle rilling, simple past and past participle rilled)

1. To trickle, pour, or run like a small stream.
   • 1862, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Il Mystico, 81-86:

     And fainter, finer, trickle far
     To where the listening uplands are;
     To pause—then from his gurgling bill
     Let the warbled sweetness rill,
     And down the welkin, gushing free,
     Hark the molten melody;

   • 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 158:

     Alladad Khan was panting hard, soaked in sweat, and his rolled-up sleeve was all blood, blood rilling down his arm.

Irish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

rill (present analytic rilleann, future analytic rillfidh, verbal noun rilleadh, past participle rillte)

1. (transitive) riddle, sieve, sift
2. (transitive) pour (as from sieve)

Conjugation

conjugation of rill (first conjugation – A)

		singular			plural			relative	autonomous
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative	present	rillim	rilleann tú; rillir†	rilleann sé, sí	rillimid	rilleann sibh	rilleann siad; rillid†	a rilleann; a rilleas	rilltear
	past	rill mé; rilleas	rill tú; rillis	rill sé, sí	rilleamar; rill muid	rill sibh; rilleabhair	rill siad; rilleadar	a rill / ar rill*	rilleadh
	past habitual	rillinn	rillteá	rilleadh sé, sí	rillimis; rilleadh muid	rilleadh sibh	rillidís; rilleadh siad	a rilleadh / a rilleadh*	rilltí
future		rillfidh mé; rillfead	rillfidh tú; rillfir†	rillfidh sé, sí	rillfimid; rillfidh muid	rillfidh sibh	rillfidh siad; rillfid†	a rillfidh; a rillfeas	rillfear
conditional		rillfinn	rillfeá	rillfeadh sé, sí	rillfimis; rillfeadh muid	rillfeadh sibh	rillfidís; rillfeadh siad	a rillfeadh / a rillfeadh*	rillfí
subjunctive	present	go rille mé; go rillead†	go rille tú; go rillir†	go rille sé, sí	go rillimid; go rille muid	go rille sibh	go rille siad; go rillid†	—	go rilltear
	past	dá rillinn	dá rillteá	dá rilleadh sé, sí	dá rillimis; dá rilleadh muid	dá rilleadh sibh	dá rillidís; dá rilleadh siad	—	dá rilltí
imperative		rillim	rill	rilleadh sé, sí	rillimis	rilligí; rillidh†	rillidís	—	rilltear
verbal noun		rilleadh
past participle		rillte

* indirect relative
† archaic or dialect form

Derived terms

• rilleán m (“riddle, coarse sieve”)

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “rill”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “rillim”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “rill”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024