thill

See also: Thill

English

Alternative forms

• fill (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English thille, thylle, from Old English þille (“board; floorboard; plank; stake; pole”), from Proto-Germanic *þiljǭ (“board; floorboard; deck”), from Proto-Indo-European *tel- (“plank; board”). Cognate with Dutch deel, German Low German Deel (> English deal (“plank”)), German Diele, Swedish tilja, Icelandic þilja. Akin to English theal (“board; plank”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θɪl/
• Rhymes: -ɪl

Noun

thill (plural thills)

1. One of the two long pieces of wood, extending before a vehicle, between which a horse is hitched; a shaft.
2. (mining) The shallow stratum of underclay that lies under a seam of coal; the bottom of a coal-seam.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘At Twenty-two’, In Black and White, Folio Society 2005, p. 405:

     One by one, Janki leading, they crept into the old gallery – a six-foot way with a scant four feet from thill to roof.

Anagrams

• illth

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Middle English

Noun

thill

1. Alternative form of thylle