rill en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ɹɪl/
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”).
Meanings
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A very small brook; a streamlet; a creek, rivulet.
Light grew, and lo! the Company passed through another gateway, high-arched and broad, and a rill ran out beside them; and beyond, going steeply down, was a road between sheer cliffs, knife-edged against the sky far above.
1955, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King:So twice five miles of fertile ground / With walls and towers were girdled round: / And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills, / Where blossom'd many an incense-bearing tree; / And here were forests ancient as the hills, / And folding sunny spots of greenery.
1797, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Kubla Khan: Or A Vision in a Dream”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, →OCLC, pages 55–56:Sago trees here cover the mountain side, instead of growing as usual in low swamps; but a closer examination shows that they grow in swampy patches, which have formed among the loose rocks that cover the ground, and which are kept constantly full of moisture by the rains, and by the abundance of rills which trickle down among them.
1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 89:[N]or yet beside the rill / Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he
1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753, →OCLC:The secret of success lies never in the amount of money, but in the relation of income to outgo; as if, after expense has been fixed at a certain point, then new and steady rills of income, though never so small, being added, wealth begins.
1860, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay III. Wealth.”, in The Conduct of Life, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 101:"Most of them don't wash. Those who do usually plunge their head into some brook or rill, if there happens to be one about."
1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 53:
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(alt-of, alternative) Alternative form of rille.
alt of rille
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| rills | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
rill erosion · interrill · rillet
Translations (18)
uk струмо́чок (very small brook) · ga sruthlán (very small brook) · ga sruthán (very small brook) · bg ручей (very small brook) · sh pòtočić (very small brook) · hu ér (very small brook) · ga silteán (very small brook) · cs potůček (very small brook) · sv rännil (very small brook) · fr ruisselet (very small brook) · hu csermely (very small brook) · sh по̀точић (very small brook) · fi noro (very small brook) · bg поточе (very small brook) · cs stružka (very small brook) · an lavallo (very small brook) · ru ручеёк (very small brook) · es arroyito (very small brook)