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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

GILL, n.² Also gjilt, gyll, gyill. Dim. gillie. A narrow valley with steep, rocky sides; a ravine, gully (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 226; w., s.Sc. 1825 Jam.; Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.; Cai. 1900 E.D.D.; Sh. 1914 Angus Gl., gjill), “generally applied to a gully whose sides have resumed a verdant appearance in consequence of the grass growing” (Rxb. 1825 Jam.), a dell; "a stank, marsh, swamp, a miry place in the muirs with hard edges all round" (Rnf. a.1850 Crawfurd MSS. (N.L.S.) G. 21, gill(ie)). See comb. (2) below. Now mostly in place-names (Sh.¹⁰, Cai.⁷, Edb.¹, wm.Sc.¹, Arg.³, Kcb.¹⁰, s.Sc., Uls.⁴ 1954). Dim. gillet, a narrow channel among rocks (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.). Also in Eng. dial. [Sc. gɪl; Sh. + gjɪl]Lnk. 1793 D. Ure Hist. Rutherglen 272:
From a stratum of this kind, in the Gill near Bogton, excellent grind-stones have been taken.Sc. 1820 Scott Monastery xiii.:
I have . . . led the chace when the Laird of Cessford and his gay riders were all thrown out by the mosses and gills.Lnk. 1873 J. Hamilton Poems 198:
An' up the green gill, as we drave them alang, We rous'd a' the echoes wi' daffin' an' sang.Sh. 1898 “Junda” Klingrahool 14:
O, da breeze! da beautiful breeze! Hit souchs trough da gills an da seggy lees.e.Dmf. 1912 J. & R. Hyslop Langholm 89:
The Bogle Gill in Stubholm Wood was also held to be a haunted place.Sc. 1913 D. Macalister Echoes 89:
An' leal folk here in cleuch an' gyll Maun hidlins won thegither.Sh. 1991 Rhoda Bulter in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 70:
Veeve can I mind dat lang traik trowe da hill,
Whin me feet felt laek lead, bit left hardly a mett
Idda boannie green moss at lay tick idda gyill.

Combs.: (1) gill-ronnie, a glen full of brushwood (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 228), now a place-name (Kcb.¹⁰ 1954). See Rone; (2) marsh-gill, a channel in a marsh which drains into a loch. (2) Lnl. 1767 Session Papers, Provost of Linlithgow v. Elphinston State of Process 40:
There are marsh-gills, which the natural run of the water has formed to convey itself into the lochs; and he has seen these drains and gills in time of drought quite dry.