Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use gill in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Gill means a breathing organ of fish and other aquatic animals. Example: “Gill nets are designed to catch a fish by the gills.”

Examples of gill by meaning

nounA gill slit or gill cover.

  • Gill nets are designed to catch a fish by the gills.

verbTo 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.1948, Oliver Hazard Perry Rodman, The Saltwater Fisherman's Favorite Four, page 166
  • She gutted and gilled the fish, then scaled it.2014, Scott Tippett, Polaris, →ISBN, page 99

verbTo catch (a fish) in a gillnet.

  • In cases of very heavy catches the nets may be hauled and stored with the fish still gilled.1971, Michael Culley, G. A. Kerkut, The Pilchard: Biology and Exploitation →ISBN, page 70
  • The intention is to gill the fish, so they are usually scared into the net by rowing one boat into the middle of the net circle and banging the oars on the boat bottom or splashing the water.1994, G.D. Pickett, M.G. Pawson, Sea Bass: Biology, →ISBN, page 177

verbTo 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
  • Also, when fish gilled there wasn't as much extra twine to tangle in, so they were easier to release from the net.2010, Edward A. Perrine, Midnight Tracy, →ISBN, page 147

More sentences with gill

  • In this group of mushrooms, the attachment of the gills to the stipe is sinuate.From the entry sinuate
  • He came in with a suitcase, packed to the gills with samples and demonstration products.From the entry to the gills
  • In this group of mushrooms, the attachment of the gills to the stipe is adnexed.From the entry adnexed
  • In this group of mushrooms, the attachment of the gills to the stipe is subdecurrent.From the entry subdecurrent
  • In this group of mushrooms, the attachment of the gills to the stipe is emarginate.From the entry emarginate
  • In this group of mushrooms, the attachment of the gills to the stipe is decurrent.From the entry decurrent
  • Glochidia were once believed to be parasites on the gills of the parents.From the entry glochidium
  • In this group of mushrooms, the gills are free.From the entry free
  • Fish have gills so they can breathe underwater.From the entry breathe
  • In this group of mushrooms, the attachment of the gills to the stipe ranges from attached to almost decurrent.From the entry attached
  • Adnate mushroom gills are broadly attached to the stalk slightly above the bottom of the gill, with most of the gill fused to the stem.From the entry adnate
  • The plastron of a diving beetle is not directly a source of oxygen, but acts as a gill, acquiring oxygen from the surrounding water.From the entry plastron
  • Even though the room was full to the gills with people, they managed to push enough people aside to open up a small dance floor.From the entry full to the gills
  • The lugworms were shorter and lighter, with hispid gills and mucus-coloured tails.2022, Sara Baume, Seven Steeples, Tramp Press, page 100. From the entry lugworm
  • I look out between my greenening gills and see what she meant.2022, Stephen Kozeniewski, The Hematophages. From the entry greenen
  • Unique among mollusks, monoplacophorans turned out to have multiple repeating sets of shell-attachment muscles, kidneys, and gills.2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 34. From the entry monoplacophoran
  • There, a small probe and dissecting microscope were used to isolate diplectanids from the gills or sediment.2015 August 12, Delane C. Kritsky, Micah D. Bakenhaster, Douglas H. Adams, “Pseudorhabdosynochus species (Monogenoidea, Diplectanidae)…. From the entry diplectanid
  • 'I say, you look a bit grimmish about the gills,' said Snub.2014, John Creasey, A Note From The Accused?, page 62. From the entry grimmish
  • Getting gilled on gack without the precious reward of a drink on top, though, really sucked.2009 March, Christopher John Campion, Escape from Bellevue: A Dive Bar Odyssey, Gotham Books, →ISBN, page 195. From the entry gack
  • There are two pairs of stumpy legs and three pairs of feathery gills behind the head.2007, Ross Piper, Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals, page 266. From the entry olm
  • Take out the grey, feather-like gills – often called “dead men’s fingers”.2004 May 1, Steve Manfredi, “Mud crab”, in Sydney Morning Herald, page 7. From the entry dead men's fingers
  • “I call these the lungs,” says Colleton, pointing to the gills with the dripping, short-handled knife.2003 September 26, Michael Gartland, “Drought Forces Awendaw, S.C., Crab Festival to Import from Louisiana”, in Knight Ridder Tribune…. From the entry dead men
  • In the Chesapeake Bay area, some call the gills “dead men's fingers” for their withered, pale appearance.2003, Michael Gartland, “Drought Forces Awendaw, S.C., Crab Festival to Import from Louisiana”, in Knight Ridder Tribune Business News…. From the entry dead men's fingers
  • The remaining portion is caught with drift gill nets (10%) and other fishing methods.2000, Transition to Responsible Fisheries Economic and Policy Implications, OECD Publishing, →ISBN, page 228. From the entry dragnet
  • The tail and gills are absorbed for food and lungs develop; now the tadpole surfaces for air.1997, Michael J. Caduto, Joseph Bruchac, “The Woman Who Married A Frog”, in Keepers of the Animals: Native American Stories and Wildlife…. From the entry frogpole
  • There, men with spiked poles would swarm into the scow, hook each fish under the gills.1941, Emily Carr, chapter 18, in Klee Wyck. From the entry slithery
  • One was wholly debranchiate, the other had but one gill plume remaining.1934, Natural History Report: Zoology VII, British Museum, page 144. From the entry debranchiate
  • The gills are never corky or woody and only slightly fleshy, usually arid and toughish.1918, Calvin Henry Kauffman, The Agaricaceae of Michigan, Volume 1. From the entry toughish
  • I know how to grease my gills, I do.2022, M. Laszlo, The Phantom Glare of Day. From the entry grease one's gills
  • They have two rhinophores in the front to detect scents and gills on their backs that look like royal crowns.2022 April 12, Jack Israel, “Short but Beautiful Lives”, in world.dan.org. From the entry regal sea goddess
  • It’s a film that is utterly maximalist, stuffed to the gills with gadgets, gimmicks, ideas both good and bad.2017 September 19, Gwilym Mumford, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle review – spy sequel reaches new heights of skyscraping silliness”, in the…. From the entry to the gills
  • They have the upper jaw fused with the cranium and a gill cover over the four gill slits.2012, Harold M. Tyus, “Diversity 1: Chordates to Sharks”, in Ecology and Conservation of Fishes, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, pages…. From the entry chimera
  • Eggs are incubated in all four gills (tetragenous).2012, G. Bauer, K. Wächtler, Ecology and Evolution of the Freshwater Mussels Unionoida, page 234. From the entry tetragenous

Meaning of gill

  1. noun A breathing organ of fish and other aquatic animals.
  2. noun A gill slit or gill cover.
  3. noun One of the radial folds on the underside of the cap of a mushroom, the surface of which bears the spore-producing organs.

Full definition of gill

Questions about gill in a sentence

How do you use gill in a sentence?
Gill is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Gill nets are designed to catch a fish by the gills.”
What is a short sentence with gill?
“Eggs are incubated in all four gills (tetragenous).”
What does gill mean?
Gill means a breathing organ of fish and other aquatic animals.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gill (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use gill in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/gill. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.