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Prill vs Pill - What's the difference?

prill | pill |

In obsolete terms the difference between prill and pill

is that prill is a spinning top while pill is to pillage; to despoil or impoverish.

As verbs the difference between prill and pill

is that prill is to flow, spurt while pill is of a woven fabric surface, to form small matted balls of fiber.

As nouns the difference between prill and pill

is that prill is a rill, a small stream while pill is a small, usually cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some sort of medication.

prill

English

Etymology 1

A variant of purl, 17th century.

Verb

(en verb)
  • to flow, spurt
  • (Stow)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • a rill, a small stream
  • (obsolete) a spinning top
  • Etymology 2

    Origin unknown. OED mentions Cornish pryl "sheep-droppings" as a likely loan from English.

    Noun

    (wikipedia prill) (en noun)
  • a pellet, a granule, a small bead
  • *2000 , R. R. Fullwood, Probabilistic Safety Assessment in the Chemical and Nuclear Industries , page 275
  • *:Prills are free-flowing pellets developed for fertilizer as a coarse product with little setting tendency that can be spread easily and smoothly.
  • *2007 , Stan A. David, Trends in Welding Research: Proceedings of the 7Th International , page 661
  • *:The resulting solution is evaporated and converted into prills , i.e. dense flakes or grains, of solid ammonium nitrate.
  • rich copper ore remaining after removal of low-grade material; a droplet of copper suspended in molten slag
  • (mining) A nugget of virgin metal.
  • The button of metal from an assay.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • to produce pellets by forming a molten substance into droplets which solidify while falling
  • Synonyms
    * pelletize
    Derived terms
    * prilling * prill sulfur

    Etymology 3

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The brill, a kind of flatfish.
  • ----

    pill

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) or (etyl) pille (whence (etyl) pil), probably from (etyl) pilula.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small, usually cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some sort of medication.
  • * 1864 , Benjamin Ellis, The Medical Formulary [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC14843090&id=pHoMvHRmrlIC&pg=PA170&lpg=PA170&dq=%22take+two+pills%22&as_brr=1]
  • Take two pills every hour in the apyrexia of intermittent fever, until eight are taken.
  • (senseid) Contraceptive medication, usually in the form of a pill to be taken by a woman; an oral contraceptive pill.
  • Jane went on the pill when she left for college.
    She got pregnant one month after going off the pill .
  • * 1986 , Jurriaan Plesman, Getting Off the Hook: Treatment of Drug Addiction and Social Disorders Through Body and Mind :
  • Many specialists are requesting that this vitamin be included in all contraceptive pills, as women on the pill have a tendency to be depressed.
  • (slang) A comical or entertaining person.
  • (slang) A contemptible, annoying, or unpleasant person.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1960
  • , author= , title=(Jeeves in the Offing) , section=chapter IV , passage=You see, he's egging Phyllis on to marry Wilbert Cream. [...] And when a man like that eggs, something has to give, especially when the girl's a pill like Phyllis, who always does what Daddy tells her.}}
  • * 2000 , Susan Isaacs, Shining Through [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0061030155&id=6_1FJWFEYGoC&pg=PA172&lpg=PA172&dq=%22a+real+pill%22&sig=RCUR5O3MhNXeq8rMOnx9-LR5Mfo]
  • Instead, I saw a woman in her mid-fifties, who was a real pill ; while all the others had managed a decent “So pleased,” or even a plain “Hello,” Ginger just inclined her head, as if she was doing a Queen Mary imitation.
  • (informal) A small piece of any substance, for example a ball of fibres formed on the surface of a textile by rubbing.
  • * 1999 , Wally Lamb, I Know This Much Is True [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0060987561&id=LOYeA9GmrEwC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=%22sweater+pills%22&sig=U11GOkTpfHlqyGyIdk7ZNZ0GNuI]
  • One sleeve, threadbare and loaded with what my mother called “sweater pills ,” hung halfway to the floor.
  • A baseball.
  • * 2002 , John Klima, Pitched Battle: 35 of Baseball's Greatest Duels from the Mound [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0786412038&id=G126RsLD3MsC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=%22threw+the+pill%22&sig=NmyoxWN_bP5AHc9imVPMTxY7lvw]
  • Mr. Fisher contributed to the Sox effort when he threw the pill past second baseman Rath after Felsch hit him a comebacker.
  • (firearms) (informal) a bullet (projectile)
  • Synonyms
    * (small object for swallowing) tablet
    Derived terms
    * bitter pill to swallow * blue pill * chill pill * horse pill * morning-after pill * on the pill * pill beetle * pill bug * pill popper * red pill * sugar pill * pop pills

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (textiles) Of a woven fabric surface, to form small matted balls of fiber.
  • * 1997 , Jo Sharp, Knitted Sweater Style: Inspirations in Color [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1561581895&id=l5h-cGU5HUYC&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=sweater+pilling&sig=6gfLWBL1QHVQZmbSYhJ4oipm8Kc]
  • During processing, inferior short fibers (which can cause pilling and itching) are removed to enhance the natural softness of the yarn and to improve its wash-and-wear performance.
  • To form into the shape of a pill.
  • Pilling is a skill rarely used by modern pharmacists.
  • To medicate with pills.
  • She pills herself with all sorts of herbal medicines.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To peel; to remove the outer layer of hair, skin, or bark.
  • To peel; to make by removing the skin.
  • *(Bible), (w) xxx. 37
  • *:[Jacob] pilled white streaksin the rods.
  • To be peeled; to peel off in flakes.
  • (label) To pillage; to despoil or impoverish.
  • *:
  • *:So syr Lucan departed for he was greuously wounded in many places And so as he yede he sawe and herkened by the mone lyght how that pyllars and robbers were comen in to the felde To pylle and robbe many a ful noble knyghte of brochys and bedys of many a good rynge & of many a ryche Iewel / and who that were not deed al oute
  • :(Spenser)
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • The peel or skin.
  • * Holland
  • Some be covered over with crusts, or hard pills , as the locusts.

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) . More at (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An inlet on the coast; a small tidal pool or bay.
  • ----