Thill

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /θɪl/

Alternative forms

• fill dialectal

Origin

From Middle English thille, thylle, from Old English þill ("board, plank, stake, pole"). Cognate with German Diele, Swedish tilja, Icelandic þilja.

Full definition of thill

Noun

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.