hill

[hil] /hɪl/
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.
6.
Baseball. mound1 (def 4).
7.
the Hill, Capitol Hill.
verb (used with object)
8.
to surround with hills:
to hill potatoes.
9.
to form into a hill or heap.
Idioms
10.
go over the hill, Slang.
  1. to break out of prison.
  2. to absent oneself without leave from one's military unit.
  3. to leave suddenly or mysteriously:
    Rumor has it that her husband has gone over the hill.
11.
over the hill,
  1. relatively advanced in age.
  2. 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)
Related forms
hiller, noun
underhill, noun
Synonyms
1. eminence, prominence; mound, knoll, hillock; foothill.
Antonyms
1. hollow, valley.

Hill

[hil] /hɪl/
noun
1.
Ambrose Powell
[pou-uh l] /ˈpaʊ əl/ (Show IPA), 1825–65, Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War.
2.
Archibald Vivian
[viv-ee-uh n] /ˈvɪv i ən/ (Show IPA), 1886–1977, English physiologist: Nobel Prize in 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.
Examples from the web for hill
  • The personal computer has been king of the hill for over a decade.
  • Paying no attention, the visitors straggle up the hill.
  • You're struggling up a hill halfway through a ten-mile race.
  • It really does resemble a castle and it really is on a hill.
  • It is the sun's energy that pumps the water up hill to be stored for later use.
  • Participants were instructed to look down the hill and judge, both visually and manually, its grade.
  • We follow a knot of workmen up the hill to rectangular pits shaded by a corrugated steel roof-the main excavation site.
  • If you drive to the foot of this hill and put your car in neutral you will roll up the hill.
  • On race day, each heat consists of two trips down the hill.
  • If you kick a soccer ball up a hill too slowly, it will come back down.
British Dictionary definitions for hill

hill

/hɪl/
noun
1.
  1. a conspicuous and often rounded natural elevation of the earth's surface, less high or craggy than a mountain
  2. (in combination): a hillside, a hilltop
2.
  1. a heap or mound made by a person or animal
  2. (in combination): a dunghill
3.
an incline; slope
4.
over the hill
  1. (informal) beyond one's prime
  2. (military, slang) absent without leave or deserting
5.
up hill and down dale, strenuously and persistently
verb (transitive)
6.
to form into a hill or mound
7.
to cover or surround with a mound or heap of earth
See also hills
Derived Forms
hiller, noun
hilly, adjective
Word Origin
Old English hyll; related to Old Frisian holla head, Latin collis hill, Low German hull hill

Hill

/hɪl/
noun
1.
Archibald Vivian. 1886–1977, British biochemist, noted for his research into heat loss in muscle contraction: shared the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine (1922)
2.
Damon Graham Devereux, son of Graham Hill. born 1960, British motor-racing driver; Formula One world champion (1996)
3.
David Octavius 1802–70, Scottish painter and portrait photographer, noted esp for his collaboration with the chemist Robert Adamson (1821–48)
4.
Sir Geoffrey (William). born 1932, British poet: his books include King Log (1968), Mercian Hymns (1971), The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy (1983), and The Orchards of Syon (2002)
5.
Graham. 1929–75, British motor-racing driver: world champion (1962, 1968)
6.
Octavia. 1838–1912, British housing reformer; a founder of the National Trust
7.
Sir Rowland. 1795–1879, British originator of the penny postage
8.
Susan (Elizabeth). born 1942, British novelist and writer of short stories: her books include I'm the King of the Castle (1970) The Woman in Black (1983), and Felix Derby (2002)
Word Origin and History for hill
n.

Old English hyll "hill," from Proto-Germanic *hulni- (cf. Middle Dutch hille, Low German hull "hill," Old Norse hallr "stone," Gothic hallus "rock," Old Norse holmr "islet in a bay," Old English holm "rising land, island"), from PIE root *kel- "to rise, be elevated, be prominent" (cf. Sanskrit kutam "top, skull;" Latin collis "hill," columna "projecting object," culmen "top, summit," cellere "raise," celsus "high;" Greek kolonos "hill," kolophon "summit;" Lithuanian kalnas "mountain," kalnelis "hill," kelti "raise"). Formerly including mountains, now usually confined to heights under 2,000 feet.

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]


The term mountain is very loosely used. It commonly means any unusual elevation. In New England and central New York, elevations of from one to two thousand feet are called hills, but on the plains of Texas, a hill of a few hundred feet is called a mountain. [Ralph S. Tarr, "Elementary Geology," Macmillan, 1903]


Despite the differences in defining mountain systems, Penck (1896), Supan (1911) and Obst (1914) agreed that the distinction between hills, mountains, and mountain systems according to areal extent or height is not a suitable classification. ["Geographic Information Science and Mountain Geomorphology," 2004]
Phrase over the hill "past one's prime" is first recorded 1950.

hill in Medicine

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

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

Slang definitions & phrases for hill

hill

noun

The pitcher's mound (1908+ Baseball)

Related Terms

drive someone over the hill, go over the hill, over the hill


Hill

Related Terms

sam hill


hill in the Bible

(1.) Heb. gib'eah, a curved or rounded hill, such as are common to Palestine (Ps. 65:12; 72:3; 114:4, 6). (2.) Heb. har, properly a mountain range rather than an individual eminence (Ex. 24:4, 12, 13, 18; Num. 14:40, 44, 45). In Deut. 1:7, Josh. 9:1; 10:40; 11:16, it denotes the elevated district of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim, which forms the watershed between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. (3.) Heb. ma'aleh in 1 Sam. 9:11. Authorized Version "hill" is correctly rendered in the Revised Version "ascent." (4.) In Luke 9:37 the "hill" is the Mount of Transfiguration.

Idioms and Phrases with hill

hill

see: