English

Proper noun

Jill

1. A female given name.
   • 1994, Floyd Skloot, Summer Blue, Story Line Press, ISBN 0934257086, page 98:

     "Just Jill, I'm afraid." "Would you prefer if it was Gillian?" "Oh, I think so. Gillian sounds so much fancier." "Fancy?" Terrence said. He smiled at her. "Or perhaps it sounds flashy?" "Royal," Richard said. "Flowery," Terrence added. "You could say Gillian was more flowery. That would fit. What about you, Corrie, what does it sound like to you?" "Rich," Corrie glanced at Jill. "Gillian sounds richer than Jill."

2. Generic use for any female (as Sheila in Australian English), especially paired (since the 15th c., compare Ienken and Iulyan) with the male Jack.
   • 1590, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene II:

     Our wooing doth not end like an old play;

     Jack hath not Jill; these ladies' courtesy

     Might well have made our sport a comedy.

3. A young woman; a sweetheart; like the variant spelling Gill it was also associated with various assertive uses of the term flirt, as in flirtgigg (used by William Shakespeare for a 'woman of light or loose behavior').
4. A jillstrap: the female counterpart to a jockstrap.

Derived terms

• jillstrap

References

• EtymologyOnLine
• J. van der Schaar, “Woordenboek van voornamen”, 11. druk, Utrecht, Antwerpen 1979, Aula-boeken 176, Uitgeverij Het Spectrum, ISBN 90-274-4883-3

English

Verb

jill ‎(third-person singular simple present jills, present participle jilling, simple past and past participle jilled)

1. (uncommon, vulgar, slang, of a female) To ****.
   • 1997 June 21, 1st try. Sex with mom's friend (teenM/olderF), in alt.sex.stories, Usenet:

     Sue was fingering herself in my bed. IN MY BED. I couldn't believe it. I tried to pretend that I was still asleep but she caught me peeking as she was jilling herself.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:****

Derived terms

• jill off (synonymous, more common)

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see Citations:jill.

Etymology 2

From the female name Jill.

Noun

jill ‎(plural jills)

1. A female ferret.
   • 1971 March, Fred Taylor, “How the English hunt rabbits”, in Field & Stream^[84], volume 75, number 11:

     Below ground, in the maze of tunnels excavated by the rabbits over many, many years, five of our jill, or bitch, ferrets were running loose[...]. A white jill popped out of the hole nearest me, slithered through the net mesh and disappeared down an adjacent entrance.‎

   • 2001, David Brian Plummer, In Pursuit of Coney^[62], Coch Y Bonddu Books, ISBN 0953364887:

     In 1989 I obtained a hob from Curtis Price from one of my own jills mated to my own hob, for living as I do at the very edge of Britain it is not practicable to breed litters of ferrets to obtain a single replacement. Hence I lend out my best mated jills and receive a single ferret kitten from each litter.‎

   • 2006, Steve Caple, Rural Pest Control^[9], Troubador Publishing Ltd., ISBN 0955389607:

     I prefer to use Jills on my ferreting jobs. All are fitted with transmitter collars, and I would never work a ferret without one. That said, I always make sure I have a large Hob ferret with me because sometimes he will shift stubborn rabbits where the Jills have failed.‎

Coordinate terms

• hob (male ferret)

Etymology 3

From the female name Jill; paired with jack (from the male name Jack) as terms for alcohol measurements.

Noun

jill ‎(plural jills)

1. Misspelling of gill.