Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small brook; a rivulet.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A small brook; a rivulet; a streamlet.
  • noun A deep, winding valley on the moon.
  • To flow in a small stream or rill; run in streamlets; purl.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb rare To run a small stream.
  • noun A very small brook; a streamlet.
  • noun (Astron.) See Rille.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A very small brook; a streamlet.
  • verb To run a small stream.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a small stream
  • noun a small channel (as one formed by soil erosion)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Low German rille or Dutch ril, running stream; see rei- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • 1. A small brook; a rivulet.

    2. A long narrow straight valley on the moon's surface.

    (Low German rille or Dutch ril, running stream; see rei- in Indo-European roots.)

    May 29, 2007

  • AWAKE, Æolian lyre, awake,

    And give to rapture all thy trembling strings.

    From Helicon's harmonious springs

    A thousand rills their mazy progress take;

    The laughing flowers that round them blow

    Drink life and fragrance as they flow.

    Now the rich stream of music winds along

    Deep, majestic, smooth, and strong,

    Thro' verdant vales, and Ceres' golden reign;

    Now rolling down the steep amain

    Headlong, impetuous, see it pour:

    The rocks and nodding groves re-bellow to the roar.

    - T. Gray, 'The Progress of Poesy'.

    August 11, 2008