Meaning

(zootomy) A breathing organ of fish and other aquatic animals..

Definitions by Sense

1. (zootomy) A breathing organ of fish and other aquatic animals.
2. (of a fish) A gill slit or gill cover.
3. (mycology) One of the radial folds on the underside of the cap of a mushroom, the surface of which bears the spore-producing organs.
4. (animal anatomy) The fleshy flap that hangs below the beak of a fowl; a wattle.
5. (figuratively) The flesh under or about the chin; a wattle.
6. (spinning) One of the combs of closely ranged steel pins which divide the ribbons of flax fiber or wool into fewer parallel filaments.
7. To remove the gills from a fish as part of gutting and cleaning it.
8. (transitive) To catch (a fish) in a gillnet.

Example Sentences

Fishes […] perform their respiration under water by the gills.

Gill nets are designed to catch a fish by the gills.

dropsy fills you to the gills

As we had fish home in the icebox, when Bill led the fish up alongside, I leaned over the combing, gilled the fish with my fingers, slid out the hook and let go. The bass lay there for a moment, tired from the arch of the rod and the pull of the line.

She gutted and gilled the fish, then scaled it.

In cases of very heavy catches the nets may be hauled and stored with the fish still gilled. The fish would then be shaken out on return to the port.

Owing to the peculiar shape of the pompano and the relatively large mesh in the pompano gill nets, the fish are not caught by being actually gilled.

The intention is to gill the fish, so they are usually scared into the net by rowing one boat into the middle of the net circle and banging the oars on the boat bottom or splashing the water.

Word Forms

• gills
• gilling
• gilled
• ghyll

Synonyms for gill

Related Words

When Should You Use Gill?

Use gill when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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