Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GILD, v.t. [pret. and pp. gilded or gilt. Sax. gildan, gyldan, geldan, to pay a debt, to gild, and gild, tribute, tax, toll; D. and G. geld, money; Dan. gield, a debt; Sw. gåld. To gild is to cover with gold; G. vergolden; D. vergulden; Dan. forgylder; Sw. förgylla; from gold, or its root, Dan. guul, Sw. gul, Sax. gealew, yellow, connected with Ir. geal, W. golau, light, bright. Class Gl, No. 6, 7.]

1. To overlay with gold, either in leaf or powder, or in amalgam with quicksilver; to overspread with a thin covering of gold; as, the gilt frame of a mirror. Cyc. Her joy in gilded chariots when alive, / And love of ombre after death survive. Pope.
2. To cover with any yellow matter. Shak.
3. To adorn with luster; to render bright. No more the rising sun shall gild the morn. Pope.
4. To illuminate; to brighten. South. Let oft good humor, mild and gay, / Gild the calm evening of your day. Trumbull.
5. To give a fair and agreeable external appearance; to recommend to favor and reception by superficial decoration; as, to gild flattery or falsehood.

GILD'ED, pp.

Overlaid with gold leaf or liquid; illuminated.

GILD'ER, n.

1. One who gilds; one whose occupation is to overlay things with gold.
2. A Dutch coin of the value of 20 stivers, about 38 cents, or one shilling and ninepence sterling. It is usually written guilder.

GILD'ING, n.

1. The art or practice of overlaying things with gold leaf or liquid.
2. That which is laid on in overlaying with gold.

GILD'ING, ppr.

Overlaying with gold; giving a fair external appearance.

GILL, n.¹ [Sw. gel; Sp. agalla, a gland in the throat; a gall-nut, a wind-gall on a horse, the beak of a shuttle, and the gill of a fish; Port. guelra or guerra. Hence it would seem that gill is a shoot or prominence, the fringe-like substance, not the aperture. In Danish, gilder signifies to geld, and to cut off the gills of herrings, and in Scot. gil or gul is a crack or fissure.]

1. The organ of respiration in fishes, consisting of a cartilaginous or bony arch, attached to the bones of the head, and furnished on the exterior convex side with a multitude of fleshy leaves, or fringed vascular fibrils, resembling plumes, and of a red color in a healthy state. The water as admitted by the gill-opening, and acts upon the blood as it circulates in the fibrils. Other animals also breathe by gills, as frogs in their tadpole state, lobsters, &c. Ed. Encyc. Fishes perform respiration under water by the gills. Ray.
2. The flap that hangs below the beak of a fowl. Bacon.
3. The flesh under the chin. Bacon. Swift.
4. In England, a pair of wheels and a frame on which timber is conveyed. [Local.]

GILL, n.² [Low L. gilla, gillo or gello, a drinking glass, a gill. This word has the same elementary letters as Gr. γαυλος, a pail or bucket, and Eng. gallon, probably from one of the roots in Gl, which signify to hold or contain.]

1. A measure of capacity, containing the fourth part of a pint. It is said to be in some places in England, half a pint. Encyc.
2. A measure among miners, equal to a pint. Carew.

GILL, n.³

1. A plant, ground-ivy, of the genus Glechoma. Fam. of Plants.
2. Malt liquor medicated with ground-ivy.

GILL, n.⁴ [In Sw. gilja signifies to woo.]

1. In ludicrous language, a female; a wanton girl. Each Jack with his Gill. B. Jonson.
2. A fissure in a hill; also, a place between steep banks and a rivulet flowing through it; a brook. Ray. Grose.

GILL'-BEAR-ING, a.

Producing gills.

GILL'FLAP, n.

A membrane attached to the posterior edge of the gill-lid, immediately closing the gill-opening.

GILL'HOUSE, n.

A place where gill is sold. Pope.

GIL'LI-AN, n.

A wanton girl. [Obs.] Beaum.

GILL'LID, n.

The covering of the gills.

GILL'O-PEN-ING, n.

The aperture of a fish or other animal, by which water is admitted to the gills. Ed. Encyc.

GIL'LY-FLOW-ER, n. [Fr. giroflée, giroflier. The corresponding word in Arm. is genofles or genoflen.]

The name of certain plants. The clove gillyflower is of the genus Dianthus, or carnation pink; the stock gillyflower is the Cheiranthus; the queen's gillyflower is the Hesperis. Fam. of Plants.

GILSE, n.

A young salmon.

GILT, n.

1. Gold laid on the surface of a thing; gilding. Shak.
2. In England, a young female pig. Cyc.

GILT, pp. [of gild.]

Overlaid with gold leaf, or washed with gold; illuminated; adorned.

GILT'HEAD, n. [gilt and head.]

1. In ichthyology, a fish or a genus of fishes, the Sparus, of many spectes; so named from their color, or from a golden spot between the eyes. Encyc.
2. A bird. Hakewill.

GILT'TAIL, n.

A worm so called from its yellow tail. Johnson.

GIM, a. [contracted from gemmy.]

Neat; spruce; well dressed.

GIM'BAL, n.

A brass ring by which a sea compass is suspended in its box, by means of which the card is kept in a horizontal position, notwithstanding the rolling of the ship. Mar. Dict.

GIM'CRACK, n.

A trivial mechanism; a device; a toy; a pretty thing. Prior. Arbuthnot.

GIM'LET, n. [Fr. gibelet; Arm. guymeled. Gimlet seems to be the same word as wimble, with the Celtic pronunciation, guimble, and if m is casual, and the primary word is gibelet or guibelet, the elements of the word coincide with wabble, quibble, and with the W. gwid, a serpentine motion, gwibiaw, to wander, to move in a circular direction, gwiber, a serpent, a viper, and the primary sense is to turn.]

A borer; a small instrument with a pointed screw at the end, for boring holes in wood by turning. It is applied only to small instruments; a large instrument of the like kind is called an auger.