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Sill vs Nill - What's the difference?

sill | nill |

As nouns the difference between sill and nill

is that sill is (architecture) (also window sill ) a horizontal slat which forms the base of a window or sill can be (uk) a young herring or sill can be the shaft or thill of a carriage while nill is shining sparks thrown off from melted brass.

As a verb nill is

to be unwilling; will not (+ infinitive ).

sill

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) sille, selle, .

Noun

(en noun)
  • (architecture) (also window sill ) A horizontal slat which forms the base of a window.
    • She looked out the window resting her elbows on the window sill .
  • (construction) A horizontal, structural member of a building near ground level on a foundation or pilings or lying on the ground in earth-fast construction and bearing the upright portion of a frame. Also spelled cill. Also called a ground plate, groundsill, sole, sole-plate, mudsill. An interrupted sill fits between posts instead of being below and supporting the posts in timber framing.
  • (geology) A horizontal layer of igneous rock between older rock beds.
  • * 1980 , U.S. Government Printing Office, Geological Survey Professional Paper, Volume 1119
    • Minor palingenetic magmas probably were generated at this time and intruded the mantling rocks in the form of small sills and apophyses;
  • A piece of timber across the bottom of a canal lock for the gates to shut against.
  • (anatomy) A raised area at the base of the nasal aperture in the skull.
    • the nasal sill
    Usage notes
    Usually spelled cill when used in the context of canal or river engineering.
    Derived terms
    * mudsill * groundsill * window sill
    Quotations
    * (English Citations of "sill")
    Related terms
    * lintel * plate sense
  • 13 (construction)

    • Etymology 2

    Compare sile.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (UK) A young herring.

    • Etymology 3

    Compare thill.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The shaft or thill of a carriage.

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    nill

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) nillen, from (etyl) nillan, nellan, . Cognate with (etyl) nelle.

    Verb

  • To be unwilling; will not (+ infinitive ).
  • *1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queen) , III.v:
  • *:I here auow thee neuer to forsake. / Ill weares he armes, that nill them vse for Ladies sake.
  • *1600 , (Edward Fairfax), The (Jerusalem Delivered) of (w), XII, lxi:
  • *:What I nill tell you ask (quoth she) in vain, / Nor mov'd by prayer, nor constrain'd by power.
  • To be unwilling.
  • *:
  • *:So the knight of Ireland armed him at all points,, and rode after a great pace, as much as his horse might go; and within a little space on a mountain he had a sight of Balin, and with a loud voice he cried, Abide, knight, for ye shall abide whether ye will or nill , and the shield that is to-fore you shall not help.
  • *:• :
  • *::Soo the knyght of Irelonde armed hym at al poyntes /and rode after a grete paas as moche as his hors myght goo / and within a lytel space on a montayne he had a syghte of Balyn / and with a lowde voys he cryed abyde knyght / for ye shal abyde whether ye will or nyll / and the sheld that is to fore you shalle not helpe
  • *1955 , , (The Lord of the Rings) (Appendices):
  • *:I must indeed abide the Doom of Men, whether I will or I nill .
  • To reject, refuse, negate.
  • *1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queen) , II.vii:
  • *:Certes (said he) I n’ill thine offred grace, / Ne to be made so happy do intend.
    • Derived terms
    * willy-nilly

    Etymology 2

    Compare Irish and Gaelic (neul) star, light. Compare (nebula).

    Noun

  • Shining sparks thrown off from melted brass.
  • Scales of hot iron from the forge.
    • (Knight)
    English auxiliary verbs