Dell
//dɛl// name, noun
name, noun ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A small, deep, and wooded valley or sunken area of ground, especially in the form of a natural hollow.
"To this day they dwell In a lonely dell."
- 2 A young woman; a wench. obsolete
"Sweet doxies and dells"
- 3 a small wooded hollow wordnet
- 4 1896, John Stephen Farmer, editor, Musa Pedestris: Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes (1536-1896), page -11
- 5 1896, John Stephen Farmer, editor, Musa Pedestris: Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes (1536-1896), page -11: A Dell is a yonge wenche, able for generation, and not yet knowen or broken by the vpright man.; A Dell is a yonge wenche, able for generation, and not yet knowen or broken by the vpright man.
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
- 2 A number of places in the United States:; A town in Mississippi County, Arkansas.
- 3 A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Faribault County, Minnesota.
- 4 A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Benton County, Missouri.
- 5 A number of places in the United States:; A census-designated place in Beaverhead County, Montana.
Example
More examples"Someone called Mr Dell is waiting for you in your office, Mrs Stevens."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English delle, del, from Old English dell (“small dale”), from Proto-West Germanic *dalljā, from Proto-Germanic *daljō. Cognate to Proto-Slavic *dolъ (“below, down; valley, pit”), Welsh dôl (“meadow, dale”) and English dale.
Etymology 2
Origin obscure. Originally thieves' cant. Possibly from dell (valley). Compare Dutch del (“trollop, floozie”).
Related phrases
More for "dell"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.