gil-guy 
gil-guy (gil'gi), . [< gil (uncertain) + guy*, n., 
a rope.] Naut., a temporary contrivance of 
rope about the rigging of a ship, and more or 
less inefficient. 
gil-hooter, See gill-hooter. 
Gilia (Jtt'i-f)i n. [NL., named after Philip Gil, 
a Spanish botanist.] A large genus of gamo- 
petalous plants, closely allied to Phlox and Po- 
lemonium, of about 100 annual or biennial spe- 
cies, mostly of the western United States, a 
few species occurring in South America. The 
flowers are often showy, and several of the annual species 
are common in cultivation, frequently under the botanical 
name of Ipomopsis or Leptosiphon. 
gill 1 (gil), n. [< ME. gile, <iylle, < Dan. gjcelle = 
Sw. gal, a gill, = Icel. gjolnar, pi., gills (com- 
monly talkn) ; of. dial, ginner, also ginnle, gill, 
appar. connected with Icel. gin, the mouth of 
a beast, which, with gil, a ravine (E. gilfi), and 
perhaps gjolnar, gills, may be referred to the 
root (\/ "gin, *gi) of gin\ begin, yawn, chasm, 
chaos, etc. : see gin 1 , begin, yawn, etc. Cf . Gael. 
gial, giall, a jaw, cheek, gill of a fish.] 1. The 
breathing-organ of any animal that lives in the 
water. 
There leviathan, 
Hugest of living creatures, . . . sleeps or swims, 
And seems a moving laud ; and at his gills 
Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea. 
Milton, P. L., vii. 415. 
2. Specifically, an organ in aquatic animals for 
the aerification of the blood through the medium 
of water ; the respiratory apparatus of any ani- 
mal that breathes the air which is mixed with 
water ; by extension, a branchia, as of any inver- 
tebrate and of the ichthyopsidan vertebrates. 
See branchial. The gills or branchto of a fish are a 
series of vascular arches by which the venous blood is 
brought in close relation with the water, and thus arte- 
rialized. They are situated on each side of the neck, and 
Gill of Fish. 
A, first branchial arch of left side of black-bass : i, gill-rakers ; 2, 
branchial lamella?. C, same, in cross-section : 7, branchial lamella: ; 
8, a gill-raker. B, same arch of striped-bass, with appendages 
removed : 3. 4, 5. and 6, pharyngobranchial. epibranchial, cerato- 
branchial, and hypobranchial segments. 
consist generally of rows of compressed filaments arising 
from the outer sides of the gill-arches, between which are 
the gill-slits through which water is poured in respira- 
tion to bathe the gills, the set of gills being usually con- 
tained in cavities shut in by the gill-covers and commu- 
nicating with the mouth. There are usually four rows of 
gills in true flshes, but there may be fewer ; in selachians 
there are generally five pairs ; the details of the arrange- 
ment are very various. In Amphibia, the gills are similar 
to those of flshes in their situation and general character, 
but they usually present externally as tufted organs on 
each side of the neck, and in many cases are caducous, 
being replaced by lungs. In ilolhisca the character of 
the gills is very different, and their disposition is so varia- 
ble that they are made a means of establishing many of 
the orders and subordinate groups of that division of the 
animal kingdom. In an oyster, for example, the gills 
are the folds or plaits which lie in layers around a con- 
siderable part of the circumference of the animal. (See 
cuts under Detidrorwtux, Doris, Lamdlibranchiata, and 
Polyplacophora.) In Crustacea the gills are commonly 
appendages of some of the legs, very variable in number 
and situation, as podobranchiaj, pleurobranchise, etc. (See 
epipodite, and cut under Podophthalmia.) Among Insecta 
gills are filamentous or foliaceous external appendages of 
the trachea of aquatic insects which breathe in the water. 
In Araehnida the gills are the external parts of the breath- 
ing-organ, each gill consisting of a minute slit covered with 
a scale; there are two or four of these on the lower side 
of the abdomen, near the base. In Verities gills are the 
respiratory organs, of whatever character, commonly 
fringing the sides of the body or forming tufts on the 
head. 
3. Some part like or likened to a gill, (a) The 
wattles or dewlap of a fowl, (b) The flesh under or about 
the chin in man. [Humorous.] 
Like the long bag of flesh hanging down from the qills 
of the people of Piedmont. Swift. 
(c) One of a number of radiating plates on the under side 
of the cap or pileus of a mushroom. Aerial gills. See 
aerial. False gills, (a) In ichth., vascular appendages 
of the gill-covers of certain selachians, (b) In entom., the 
branchiae or external breathing-organs of certain insect- 
larva;. Free gills, in hymenomycetooB fungi, gills not 
actuate to the stipe. Opercular gUls,fnfe AM., branchias 
attached to the hyoidean arch, as in elasmobranchiate 
and many ganoid fishes, as distinguished from gills of the 
2513 
branchial arches proper. To look blue about the gills, 
to appear downcast or dejected. [Slung. ] Trachea! 
gills, dorsal respiratory appendages of insects into which 
trachea pass. 
The wings [of insects] must be regarded as homologous 
with the lamellar tracheal gills. 
Gegenbaur, Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 247. 
gill 1 (gil), i: [<gill l , .] I. trans. 1. To catch 
(fish) by the gills, as by means of a gill-net: 
as, gillcd fish. 
The flshes in the Lake of Venus, being called by the 
Temple-keepers, presented themselues, enduring to be 
scratched, gilled, and mens hands to be put in their 
mouthes. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 335. 
2. [In allusion to the parallel rows of filaments 
in a fish's gills.] In making worsted yarn, to 
make the fibers level and parallel with each 
other by drawing them through a gilling-ma- 
chine. 
II. intrans. To display the gills in swimming 
with the head partly out of water : as, mackerel 
go along gilling. [Colloq.] 
gill' 2 (gil), n. [Sometimes romantically spelled 
ghyll in place-names ; < ME. gille, gylle, a glen, 
< Icel. gil, a deep narrow glen, with a stream 
at the bottom; cf. geil, a ravine: see gill 1 .'] 
1. A narrow valley; a ravine, especially one 
with a rapid stream running through it. The 
word is in common use in the lake district of England: 
as, Dungeon Gill, Gillin-Grove. In northwestern York- 
shire the valleys are called dales and gills. 
As he glode thurgh the gille by a gate syde, 
There met he tho men that I mynt first. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 13529. 
Pursuing the course of this brook upwards, you come 
to a narrow sequestered valley sheltered from all winds, 
thro' which it runs murmuring among great stones ; . . . 
you may continue along this gill. 
Gray, To Dr. Warton, Sept. 14, 1765. 
Up the tumultuous brook of Green-head Ghyll. 
Wordsworth 
Langdale Pike and Witch's Lair 
And Dungeon-GjAyU so foully rent. 
Coleridge, Christabel, i., Conclusion. 
2. A corrugation or fold ; a hollow, as in a 
sheet of metal. 
gill 3 (gil), n. [E. dial., origin unknown.] 1. 
A frame with a pair of wheels used for convey- 
ing timber. 2. Same as gill-frame. 
gill* (jil), n. [Also Jill; < ME. gille, gylle, jille, 
< OF. gelle, a sort of measure for wine : cf . ML. 
gilla, a wine-vessel, gello, a wine-vessel, a wine- 
measure, etc. ; perhaps from the same ult. 
source as gallon, q. v.] 1. A liquid measure, 
one fourth of a pint in the British and United 
States systems. The United States gill contains 7.217 
cubic inches, equal to 118.85 cubic centimeters. The Brit- 
ish imperial gill contains just 5 ounces avoirdupois of dis- 
tilled water at 62 F., weighed in air under a pressure 
equal to that of 30 inches of mercury at London, being 
equal to 142 cubic centimeters or 1.2 United States gills. 
Until about 1825 the gill was not considered as part of the 
regular system of English measures of capacity, and there 
was some want of uniformity in the use of the name. (See 
the extract from Carew.) In the north of England and 
parts of Scotland a half-pint was called a gill. The Scotch 
gill was ^ of a Scotch pint, and was therefore about equal 
to the English gill. 
They measure their block-tin by the gill, which contain- 
eth a pint. Carew. 
To some peaceful brandy-shop retires ; 
Where in full gills his anxious thoughts he drowns, 
And quaffs away the care that waits on Crowns. 
Addison, The Playhouse. 
2. A pint of ale. [Prov. Eng.] 
gill 5 (JU), n. [Also jill; < ME. Jille, Gille, Jylle, 
Gylle, a familiar abbr. of Gillian, a familiar 
name for a girl : see gillian. The name Gill or 
Jill was so common as to become almost gener- 
ic, equiv. to 'girl 'or 'young woman,' as Jack, 
equiv. to ' boy ' or ' young man,' both terms be- 
ing often used in depreciation or contempt.] 
1. A girl; a sweetheart: used in familiarity or 
contempt, as either a proper or a common noun. 
I can, for I will, 
Here at Burley o' th' Hill 
Give you all your fill, 
Each Jack with his Gill. 
B. Jonson, Gypsies Metamorphosed. 
Pin. Is she so glorious handsome 1 
Mir. You would wonder ; 
Our women look like* gipsies, like gills to her; 
Their clothes and fashions beggarly and bankrupt, 
Base, old, and scurvy. Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, v. 5. 
2. [Short for gill-creep-by-the-ground, or gill- 
run -over -the -ground, homely names for the 
plant, in which gill is a familiar application of 
__ the feminine name.] The ground-ivy, Nepeta 
' Glecnoma. 
The lowly gill that never dares to climb. 
Shenstone, Schoolmistress. 
3. Same as gill-beer. 
gillach (gil'ak), n. A fish of repulsive appear- 
ance, having the head beset with spines and 
cutaneous tags or warts on the body. The name 
gill-flirt 
is specifically given to a scorprenoid fish of the genus Scor- 
pauwpsls, of which there are two Red Sea species, S. cir- 
rosa and S. gibboaa; also to a fish of the family Synancei- 
dot, Synanceia verrucosa, which lias at the base of the dor- 
sal spines poison-sacs discharging through these spines. 
gill-arch (gil'arch), n. One of the arches which 
support the gills; one of the postoral visceral 
arches of a branchiate vertebrate, as a fish or 
an amphibian ; a branchial arch. Ordinary flshes 
have four pairs of gill-arches, connected below by a me- 
dian chain of bones called the copula. Also called gill-bar. 
See cut under gilll. 
gillaroo (gil-a-ro'), n. A local name of a va- 
riety of the common trout (Salmo fario sto- 
machicus) of certain parts of Ireland (Galway, 
etc.), in which the coats of the stomach become 
thick, like the gizzards of birds, from feeding 
on shell-fish. Also called gizzard-trout. 
gillaroo-trout (gil-a-ro'trout), n. Same as gil- 
laroo. 
gill-bar (gil'bar), n. Same as gill-arch. 
gill-beer (jil'ber), n. Malt liquor medicated 
with the leaves of the gill or ground-ivy. 
gill-box (gil'boks), n. Same as gilling-machine. 
gill-breather (gil'bre"THer), n. That which 
breathes by means of gills ; specifically, one of 
the Caridea or Crustacea, as distinguished from 
any tracheate arthropod or tube-breather. See 
Caridea. 
gill-burnt-tailt, gillian-burnt-tailt (jil'-, jil'i- 
an-bernt-tal'), n. A popular name for the ignis 
fatuus. Nares. 
Will with the wispe, or Gyl burnt tayle. 
Gayton, Notes on Don Quixote (1654), p. 97. 
An ignis fatuus, an exhalation, and G illion a burnt taile, 
or Will with the wispe. 
Gayton, Notes on Don Quixote (1654), p. 268. 
gill-cavity, gill-chamber (gil'kav*i-ti, -cham"- 
ber), . In fishes, the cavity containing the 
gills. 
gill-cleft (gil'klef t), n. A gill-slit ; a branchial 
aperture. 
gill-comb (gil'kom), . The ctenidium of a 
mollusk ; a gill-plume. 
gill-COVer (gil'kuv"er), n. The covering of the 
gills ; the opercular apparatus. Also called gill- 
lid. 
The gill-cover, a fold of skin which projects back from 
the hyoid arch, and is strengthened by the opercular bones. 
Stand. Xat. Hist., III. 43. 
Gillenia (ji-le'ni-a), n. [NL. (Moanch), named 
after Dr. Arnold Gill (Latinized Gillenitis), a 
German botanist.] A rosaceous genus of the 
eastern portion of the United States, allied to 
Spir&a, and in- 
cluding only two 
species. They are 
tall perennial herbs, 
with trifoliate 
leaves and white 
flowers loosely pan- 
icled on the slender 
branches. The bark 
of the rhizome is 
bitter and possesses 
mild emetic proper- 
ties, on which ac- 
count the plants are 
known as American 
ipecac, Indian phys- 
ic, or bounnan's- 
root. The more com- 
mon species is G. 
trifoliata ; the other 
is G. stipulacea. 
giller (gil'er), n. 
1. One who fishes 
with a gill-net. 
2. A horsehair 
fishing-line. 
gillet (jil'et), n. 
[Alsogillot,jillet, Gillenie trffiliat< ,_ 
and contr. jilt, 
q. v. ; a dim. of gill 5 , jill 2 .'] A sportive or wan- 
ton girl or woman. [Colloq.] 
gill-filament (girfil"a-ment), n. An ultimate 
ramification or foliation of the gills. 
Partitions bearing the yill- filaments. . . . Each gill-bear- 
ing arch, except the first and last, bears two rows of gill- 
filaments. Stand. Sat. Hist., III. 43. 
gill-fishing (gil'fish"ing), n. The use of gill- 
nets in fishing ; the act or art of taking fish by 
means of gill-nets. 
gill-flap (gil'flap), . 1. The membranous pos- 
terior extension of the gill-cover or opercular 
apparatus. 2. The movable gill-cover, consist- 
ing of the opercle, subopercle, and interopercle. 
gill-flirt (jil'flert), . [Also written /i-/i>t, and 
transposed flirt-gill: see gillf = jil&, and flirt.] 
A sportive or wanton girl. [Archaic.] 
" I care no more for such gill-flirt, " said the jester, " than 
I do for thy leasings." Scott. 
