Nearby Words

Hills

[hil] Origin

hill

[hil]
noun
1.
a natural elevation of the earth's surface, smaller than a mountain.
2.
an incline, especially in a road: This old jalopy won't make it up the next hill.
3.
an artificial heap, pile, or mound: a hill made by ants.
4.
a small mound of earth raised about a cultivated plant or a cluster of such plants.
5.
the plant or plants so surrounded: a hill of potatoes.
EXPAND
6.
Baseball. mound1 (def. 4).
7.
the Hill. Capitol Hill.
COLLAPSE
verb (used with object)
8.
to surround with hills: to hill potatoes.
9.
to form into a hill or heap.

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Hills is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
10.
go over the hill, Slang.
a.
to break out of prison.
b.
to absent oneself without leave from one's military unit.
c.
to leave suddenly or mysteriously: Rumor has it that her husband has gone over the hill.
11.
over the hill,
a.
relatively advanced in age.
b.
past one's prime.

Origin:
before 1000; Middle English; Old English hyll; cognate with Middle Dutch hille, Latin collis hill; compare Latin culmen top, peak (see column, culminate), celsus lofty, very high, Gothic hallus rock, Lithuanian kálnas mountain, Greek kolōnós hill, kolophṓn summit (see colophon)

hill·er, noun
un·der·hill, noun


1. eminence, prominence; mound, knoll, hillock; foothill.


1. hollow, valley.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

Hill

[hil]
noun
1.
Ambrose Pow·ell [pou-uhl] , 1825–65, Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War.
2.
Archibald Viv·i·an [viv-ee-uhn] , 1886–1977, English physiologist: Nobel prize for medicine 1922.
3.
James Jerome, 1838–1916, U.S. railroad builder and financier, born in Canada.
4.
Joe, 1879–1915, U.S. labor organizer and songwriter, born in Sweden.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To Hills
Collins
World English Dictionary
hills (hɪlz)
 
pl n
1.  the hills a hilly and often remote region
2.  as old as the hills very old

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

hill
O.E. hyll, from P.Gmc. *khulnis (cf. M.Du. hille, Low Ger. hull "hill," O.N. hallr "stone," Goth. hallus "rock," O.N. holmr "islet in a bay," O.E. holm "rising land, island"), from PIE base *kel- "to rise, be elevated, to be prominent" (cf. Skt. kutam "top, skull;" L. collis "hill," columna "projecting
EXPAND
object," culmen "top, summit," cellere "raise," celsus "high;" Gk. kolonos "hill," kolophon "summit;" Lith. kalnas "mountain," kalnelis "hill," kelti "raise"). Formerly including mountains, now usually confined to heights under 2,000 feet. Hillock (1382) preserves M.E. dim. suffix -oc. Phrase over the hill "past one's prime" is first recorded 1950.
"In Great Britain heights under 2,000 feet are generally called hills; 'mountain' being confined to the greater elevations of the Lake District, of North Wales, and of the Scottish Highlands; but, in India, ranges of 5,000 and even 10,000 feet are commonly called 'hills,' in contrast with the Himalaya Mountains, many peaks of which rise beyond 20,000 feet." [OED]
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

Hill (hĭl), Archibald Vivian. 1886-1977.

British physiologist. He shared a 1922 Nobel Prize for his investigation of heat production in muscles and nerves.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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