gilling

Verb (1)

gill (third-person singular simple present gills, present participle gilling, simple past and past participle gilled)

1. To remove the gills from a fish as part of gutting and cleaning it.
   • As we had fish home in the icebox, when Bill led the fish up alongside, I leaned over the combing, gilled the fish with my fingers, slid out the hook and let go. The bass lay there for a moment, tired from the arch of the rod and the pull of the line.1948, Oliver Hazard Perry Rodman, The Saltwater Fisherman's Favorite Four, page 166
2. (transitive) To catch (a fish) in a gillnet.
   • Owing to the peculiar shape of the pompano and the relatively large mesh in the pompano gill nets, the fish are not caught by being actually gilled.1898, Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, page 255
3. (intransitive) To be or become entangled in a gillnet.
   • Since the fine threads of the net usually are caught under the gill covers of the fish they are said to be "gilled."1926, Walter Koelz, Fishing industry of the Great Lakes, page 556

Verb (2)

gill (third-person singular simple present gills, present participle gilling, simple past and past participle gilled)

1. (obsolete) To act as a prostitute.
   • Comme proprement le fine of my Designs dey make; / Dam gilling Whore / Et Louis d'or1719, Henry Playford, “Lewis Upon the Fret”, in Wit and Mirth: Or, Pills to Purge Melancholy, page 72

   Synonyms:

   prostitute oneself

See all 34 meanings of gill