dell
/dɛl/ noun, proper noun
Forms dells
- noun A small, deep, and wooded valley or sunken area of ground, especially in the form of a natural hollow.
- noun (obsolete) A young woman; a wench.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A town in Mississippi County, Arkansas.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Faribault County, Minnesota.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Benton County, Missouri.
- proper noun A census-designated place in Beaverhead County, Montana.
Synonyms
Etymology
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.
Origin obscure. Originally thieves' cant. Possibly from dell (valley). Compare Dutch del (“trollop, floozie”).
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [AS. del, akin to E. dale; cf. D. delle, del, low ground. See Dale.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “dell”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details