Dill
name, noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Anethum graveolens (the type species of the genus Anethum), a herb, the seeds of which are moderately warming, pungent, and aromatic, formerly used as a soothing medicine for children; also known as dillseed. countable, uncountable
"The life of one plant would be affected by another. Rue was definitely hostile to basil, rosemary to hyssop, but coriander, dill and chervil lived on the friendliest of terms[.]"
- 2 A fool. Australia, informal
"He could go over and monster his way among the poms, but he was that drunk he'd probably only make a dill of himself."
- 3 aromatic threadlike foliage of the dill plant used as seasoning wordnet
- 4 A cucumber pickled with dill flavoring. countable, uncountable
- 5 aromatic Old World herb having aromatic threadlike foliage and seeds used as seasoning wordnet
- 1 To cook or flavor with dill.
"My mother would pickle them and dill them, and we still had an abundance of fresh vegetables left."
- 2 To still; to assuage; to calm; to soothe, as one in pain.
"The noise of the Queen's voyage to France is dilled down ; no money for her furniture will be got in haste; and the Cardinal has no will of her mother."
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"Borscht is often garnished with dill and sour cream."
Etymology
From Middle English dile, from Old English dile (“dill, anise”); from Proto-Germanic *deliz, of uncertain, probably non-Indo-European origin, possibly a west European substrate. Cognate with Old Saxon dilli, Dutch dille, Swedish dill, German Dill.
Variant of dull
Perhaps a backformation from dilly (“silly”).
* As a German surname, from Diele (“floorboard”). * As an English surname, from the noun dill and also the adjective dull. * As a Scottish/Scottish Gaelic surname, reduced from McDill, itself a variant of McDowell.
Related phrases
More for "dill"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.