sill
adjEtymology Short for silly.
sill
noun/sɪl/
Etymology
From Middle English sille, selle, sülle, from Old English syll, syl (“sill, threshold, foundation, base, basis”), from Proto-Germanic *sulī (“bar, sill”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (“beam, board, frame, threshold”). Cognate with Scots sil, sill (“balk, beam, floor, sill”), Dutch zulle (“sill”), Low German Sull, Sülle (“threshold, ramp, sill”), German Süll, Sülle (“threshold, sill”), Danish syld (“base of a framework building”), Swedish syll (“joist, cross-tie”), Norwegian syll, Icelandic syll, sylla (“sill”). Related also to German Schwelle ( > Danish svelle), Old Norse svill, Latin silva (“wood, forest”), Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē).
1
Architecture A breast wall; window breast; horizontal brink which forms the base of a window.
Also "window sill"
- She looked out the window resting her elbows on the window sill.
2
Business, Construction, Manufacturing A threshold; horizontal structural member of a building near ground level on a foundation or pilings, or lying on the ground, and bearing the upright portion of a frame; a sill plate.
3
Geography, Geology, Natural sciences A stratum of rock, especially an intrusive layer of igneous rock lying parallel to surrounding strata.
- Minor palingenetic magmas probably were generated at this time and intruded the mantling rocks in the form of small sills and apophyses […].1980, Geological Survey Professional Paper, Volume 1119, U.S. Government Printing Office:
- The molten rock in the sills may have ignited vast reserves of shallowly buried natural gas, much like a match applied to a gas barbecue.2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: The First 100 Million Years, Penguin, published 2019, page 55::
4
A threshold or brink across the bottom of a canal lock for the gates to shut against.
- the nasal sill
6
Government, Military, Politics, War Historical The inner edge of the bottom of an embrasure.
- Derived terms
- cross-sill, doorsill, groundsel, groundsill, lugsill, mudsill, portsill, sillcock, silled, sillock, skysill, trip sill, undersill, windowsill
- Related terms
- lintel, plate sense #13