▪ I. dill, n.1
(dɪl)
[OE. dili, dile, (dil) dyle masc. = OLG. dilli, MDu. and Du. dille f., OHG. tilli, MHG. tille m. and f., Ger. dill m., dille f., Dan. dild, Sw. dill. Ulterior derivation unknown.]
1. An umbelliferous annual plant, Anethum graveolens, with yellow flowers, a native of the South of Europe, Egypt, India, South Africa, etc., cultivated in herb gardens in England and other countries, for its carminative fruits or ‘seeds’. Also called anet.
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. 21 Anetum dil. [So a 800 Erf. Gloss.] a 800 Corpus Gloss. 159 Anetum dili. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxiii. 23 Wa eow, boceras..ᵹe þe teoðiað mintan and dile and cymyn. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 20 Wiþ heafod ece ᵹenim diles blostman. a 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 10 Anetum, dile vel dille. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 167 Nowe sette in places colde, senvey and dyle. 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. xc. 270 They sowe Dill in al gardens, amongst wortes, and Pot herbes. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. ii. 49 Had gathered rew, and savine, and the flowre Of camphora, and calamint, and dill. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xiii. 218 The wonder-working Dill..Which curious women use in many a nice disease. 1627 Drayton Agincourt, etc., Nymphidia 127 Therewith her Veruayne and her Dill, That hindreth Witches of their will. 1778 R. Lowth Transl. Isaiah xxviii. 25 Doth not he then scatter the dill, and cast abroad the cummin? 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. v. 57 Some, as fennel, dill..have yellow flowers. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 11 The bloom of scented dill. |
2. Applied locally to other umbelliferous plants; also to some species of vetch; see quots.
| c 1680 Enquiries 2/2 Do you sow hereabout the GoreVetch..Dills or Lentils? 1789 W. Marshall Glouc. Gloss., Dill, ervum hirsutum, two-seeded tare; which has been cultivated (on the Cotswold Hills) time immemorial, principally for hay. 1847–78 Halliwell, Dill, hedge parsley. Var. dial. 1881 Leicester Gloss., Dill, tare; vetch (Vicia sativa). 1884 Cheshire Gloss., Dills, Vetches. ‘Dills and wuts’ are often sown to be cut as green meat for horses. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as dill-flower, dill-fruit, dill-seed; † dill-nut (dil-note), an old name of the Earth-nut, Bunium (also, by confusion of ‘pig-nut’ and ‘sow-bread’, taken in the herbals as Cyclamen); dill pickle orig. U.S., a pickled cucumber, gherkin, etc., flavoured with dill; dillwater, a carminative draught prepared from dill; dill weed, a name in U.S. for May weed, Anthemis Cotula.
| a 1450 Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.) 134 Panis porcinus, ciclamen, malum terre, dilnote uel erthenote. a 1500 Laud MS. 553 in Cockayne Sax. Leechd. III. 321 Ciclamum, eorþenote or dillnote or slyte or halywort. Þis herbe hath leues ylich to fenel & whyte floures & a small stalk & he groweth in wodes & medes. 1586 W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 78 And dyll flowres most sweete that sauoureth also. 1641 French Distill. ii. (1651) 49 Adde to them..of Dill-seed bruised two ounces. 1858 Hogg Veg. Kingd. 377 The carminative draught known as Dill water. 1860 All Year Round No. 52. 48 The dill-water stands upon the shelf. 1906 ‘O. Henry’ Four Million (1916) 157 He saw her beginning upon a huge Dill pickle. 1916 H. L. Wilson Somewhere in Red Gap v. 217 A big dill pickle, two deviled eggs, and a half of one of these Camelbert [sic] cheeses. 1971 J. Sangster Your Friendly Neighbourhood Death Pedlar ii. 38 She..pulled out a bottle. ‘Dill pickle?’..She laid one pickle on each plate. |
▪ II. † dill, n.2 Obs. Rogues' Cant.
[Variant of, or error for, dell2.]
A girl, wench.
| a 1627 Middleton Spanish Gipsy iv. i, Who loves not his dill, let him die at the gallows. |
▪ III. dill, n.3 Naut.
The space underneath the cabin floor in a wooden fishing vessel, into which the bilge-water drains.
| 1882 Standard 11 Mar. 3/4 The lad was placed in the dill, a place at the bottom of the vessel, full of bilge water. |
▪ IV. dill n.4
obs. form of dole, grief, mourning.
| c 1420 Anturs of Arth. xv, I in dungun, and dill, is done for to duelle. a 1765 Sir Cawline iv. in Child Ballads iii. lxi. 58/1 Great dill to him was dight. |
▪ V. dill n.5
erron. f. dilse, dulse, a sea-weed.
| 1867 in Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. |
▪ VI. dill, n.6 Austral. and N.Z. slang.
(dɪl)
Also dil.
[app. back-formation from dilly a.1]
A fool or simpleton; spec. one who is duped by a trickster.
| 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 23 Dil, a simpleton or fool. (2) A trickster's victim. 1949 Evening News 16 Feb. 4/6 Sydney has developed its own picturesque slang. They talk of..‘a dill’ (a weak character). 1957 ‘N. Culotta’ They're a Weird Mob (1958) i. 13 Well don't stand there like a dill. Ibid. ix. 133 Joe said they were a ‘lot o' dills’. 1961 P. White Riders in Chariot xv. 503, I am the same dill that always stuck around! 1969 Telegraph (Brisbane) 28 Aug. 2/7 At the start he felt a bit of a dill in a wig and robes. 1970 N.Z. Listener 12 Oct. 12/5 She acted like a dill. She shouldn't have antagonised us. |
▪ VII. † dill, a. north. dial. Obs.
Also 4 dil, dille, deille, dylle.
[Perh. early form of dull a. q.v.]
Sluggish, slow, stupid, dull.
| c 1200 Ormin 3714 Mannkinn þatt wass stunnt & dill, & skilllæs swa summ asse. a 1300 Cursor M. 17225 (Cott.) Bot i þat es sa dedli dill, Me spedis ai me-self to spill. Ibid. 27238 Yong man [is] idel, and ald man dill. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 679 Hymself to onsware he is not dylle. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1529 Ȝe demen me to dille your dalyaunce to herken. a 1400 Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. ix (1867) 91 All þe dedes þay couthe doo þat derfe ware and dill. c 1440 York Myst. xxvii. 149 So wel away! That euer I did þat dede so dill. |
▪ VIII. † dill, v.1 Obs.
Also 4 dil, dyle.
[a. ON. dylja (pa. tense duldi, dulði, pa. pple. duldr, duliðr), Sw. dölja, Da. dölge to conceal, hide, keep close, disguise: cf. ON. dul concealment, dulr silent, close, dul-secret.]
1. trans. to conceal, hide, keep secret.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 202 (Cott.) Iuus wit þer gret vnschill Wend his vprisyng to dill. Ibid. 1081 His broiþer ded sua wend he dil, Bot he moght nourquar it hil. Ibid. 4271 And ioseph lette he wist it noght; He wist and dild it, als þe wis. Ibid. 13031 Naman aght it thol ne dill. [Fairf. dyle.] Ibid. 21363 Þe right rode þai wend to dil [Fairf. dille] Vte of þe cristen men skil. |
2. intr. To conceal oneself, to hide.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9292 (Cott.) Fra him for-soth sal nan cun dil [v. rr. stele, wiþdrawe]. |
▪ IX. dill, v.2 north. dial.
[Related to dill a.: cf. dull v.; also ON. dilla intr. to trill, to lull.]
trans. To soothe, assuage, lull, quiet down.
| c 1450 Henryson Robin & Ma. v, My dule in dern bot gif thow dill Doutles bot dreid I de. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xv. 80 (Surtees) 136 My son? alas, for care! who may my doyllys dyll? 1641 R. Baillie Lett. & Jrnls. (1841) I. 310 The noise of the Queen's Voyage to France is dilled down. 1820 J. Struthers Brit. Minstrel II. 80 The word dill means simply to soothe or assuage. 1851 S. Judd Margaret 140 (Bartlett) This medecine. It'll dill fevers, dry up sores..kill worms. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Dill, to ease pain, to lull, as something ‘to dill the toothache’. 1875 Lanc. Gloss., Dill, to lull or soothe a child..‘thee dill that chylt an' git it asleep’. |
b. absol. To benumb, cause dullness.
| c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 4034 With þaim þe seke man fete he hilde For þare þe paralisy first dilde. |
▪ X. † dill, v.3 Obs.
[Origin uncertain.]
trans. To trim, deck, dress up. (Also absol.)
| 1548 Hooper Declar. 10 Commandm. x. Wks. (Parker Soc.) 377 Other sort..are a-dilling and burling of their hair a longer time than a godly woman..is in apparelling of three or four young infants. 1594 Willobie Arisa xx. i. (1635) 38 No maruell well, though you haue thriu'd That so can decke, that so can dill. 1616 J. Lane Cont. Sqr.'s T. xi. 160 The vanities of thother knightes and ladies; The fickell pompe of dilld-vp whifflinge babies. |