Dictionary

hillman en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /ˈhɪlmən/ (UK, US)

Etymology

From hill + man.

Meanings

1. A native or inhabitant of hilly or mountainous country; a tribesman who lives in the mountains.
   • Indian hillmen of exceptional intelligence and resource, specially trained in clandestine surveying techniques, were despatched across the frontier disguised as Muslim holy men or Buddhist pilgrims. 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 6:
   • No one quite knew who or what the Gullals were till The Mussuck, who had been calling on Mrs. Hauksbee, and prided himself upon picking people's brains, explained they were a tribe of ferocious hillmen, somewhere near Sikkim, whose friendship even the Great Indian Empire would find it worth her while to secure. 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “The Education of Otis Yeere”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 37:
   • The Dorey men, on the other hand, are shore-dwellers, fishers and traders in a small way, and have thus the character of a colony who have migrated from another district. These hillmen or "Arfaks" differed much in physical features. They were generally black, but some were brown like Malays. 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 310:
2. A supernatural being, such as a dwarf, that lives beneath a hill.
   • A farmer on whose ground there was a little hill, resolved not to let it lie idle, and began at one end to plough it up. The hill-man, who lived in it, came to him and asked him how he dared to plough on the roof of his house. 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 186:
3. (UK, historical) A person employed to sift through a heap of dust and rubbish in search of any saleable items.

Forms