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Webster 1913 Edition

Thill

Thill

,
Noun.
[OE.
thille
, AS.
[GREEK]ille
a board, plank, beam, thill; akin to
[GREEK]el
a plank, D.
deel
a plank, floor, G.
diele
, OHG.
dili
,
dilla
, Icel.
[GREEK]ilja
a plank, planking, a thwart,
[GREEK]ili
a wainscot, plank; cf. Skr.
tala
a level surface. √236. Cf.
Fill
a thill,
Deal
a plank.]
1.
One of the two long pieces of wood, extending before a vehicle, between which a horse is hitched; a shaft.
2.
(Mining)
The floor of a coal mine.
Raymond.
Thill coupling
,
a device for connecting the thill of a vehicle to the axle.

Webster 1828 Edition

Thill

THILL

,
Noun.
The shaft of a cart, gig or other carriage. The thills are the two pieces of timber extending from the body of the carriage on each side of the last horse, by which the carriage is supported in a horizontal position.

Definition 2025

thill

thill

English

Alternative forms

Noun

thill ‎(plural thills)

  1. One of the two long pieces of wood, extending before a vehicle, between which a horse is hitched; a shaft.
  2. The thin stratum of underclay which lies under a seam of coal; the bottom of a coal-seam.
    • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘At Twenty-two’, In Black and White, Folio Society 2005, p. 405:
      One by one, Janki leading, they crept into the old gallery – a six-foot way with a scant four feet from thill to roof.

Etymology

From Middle English thille, thylle, from Old English þille ‎(“board; floorboard; plank; stake; pole”), from Proto-Germanic *þiljǭ ‎(“board; floorboard; deck”), from Proto-Indo-European *tel- ‎(“plank; board”). Cognate with Dutch deel, German Low German Deel (> English deal ‎(“plank”)), German Diele, Swedish tilja, Icelandic þilja. Akin to English theal ‎(“board; plank”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /θɪl/

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