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/

  Rhymes: -ɪl

Noun

rill (plural rills)

1. A very small brook; a streamlet.
   • 1751 Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard:

     ...nor yet beside the rill,

     Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he

   • 1797, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan:

     So twice five miles of fertile ground

     With walls and towers were girdled round:

     And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

     Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

     And here were forests ancient as the hills,

     Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

2. (planetology) Alternative form of rille.

Derived terms

• rillet

Translations

very small brook

• French: ruisselet (fr) m
• Hungarian: ér (hu), csermely (hu)
• Irish: sruthán (ga) m, sruthlán m, silteán m
• Russian: ручеёк (ru) m (ručejók)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̀точић m

  Roman: pòtočić (sh) m

• Spanish: arroyito m
• Swedish: rännil (sv) c

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