What is "sill"

Sill \Sill\, n. [Cf. Thill.] The shaft or thill of a carriage. [Prov. Eng.]

Sill \Sill\, n. [Cf. 4th Sile.] A young herring. [Eng.]

Sill \Sill\ (s[i^]l), n. [OE. sille, sylle, AS. syl, syll; akin to G. schwelle, OHG. swelli, Icel. syll, svill, Sw. syll, Dan. syld, Goth. gasuljan to lay a foundation, to found.] The basis or foundation of a thing; especially, a horizontal piece, as a timber, which forms the lower member of a frame, or supports a structure; as, the sills of a house, of a bridge, of a loom, and the like. Hence:

1. The timber or stone at the foot of a door; the threshold.

2. The timber or stone on which a window frame stands; or, the lowest piece in a window frame.

3. The floor of a gallery or passage in a mine.

4. A piece of timber across the bottom of a canal lock for the gates to shut against.

   Sill course (Arch.), a horizontal course of stone, terra cotta, or the like, built into a wall at the level of one or more window sills, these sills often forming part of it.

Old English syll "beam, threshold, large timber serving as a foundation of a wall," from Proto-Germanic *suljo (cognates: Old Norse svill, Swedish syll, Danish syld "framework of a building," Middle Low German sull, Old High German swelli, German Schwelle "sill"), perhaps from PIE root *swel- (3) "post, board" (cognates: Greek selma "beam"). Meaning "lower horizontal part of a window opening" is recorded from early 15c.

Etymology 1 n. 1 (context architecture English) (''also'' '''window sill''') A horizontal slat which forms the base of a window. 2 (context construction English) 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. 3 (context geology English) A horizontal layer of igneous rock between older rock beds. 4 A piece of timber across the bottom of a canal lock for the gates to shut against. 5 (context anatomy English) A raised area at the base of the nasal aperture in the skull. Etymology 2

n. (context UK English) A young herring. Etymology 3

n. The shaft or thill of a carriage.

1. n. structural member consisting of a continuous horizontal timber forming the lowest member of a framework or supporting structure

2. (geology) a flat (usually horizontal) mass of igneous rock between two layers of older sedimentary rock

Sill may refer to:

• Fort Sill, a United States Army post near Lawton, Oklahoma
• Mount Sill, a California mountain
• Sill, Swedish word for herring (the Norwegian and Danish equivalent is sild, the Icelandic is síld)
• Sill (dock), a weir at the low water mark retaining water within a dock
• Sill (geology), a subhorizontal sheet intrusion of molten or solidified magma
• Sill (geostatistics)
• Sill plate, a construction element

:* Window sill, a more specific construction element than above

:*Automotive sill, also known as a rocker; see Glossary of automotive design#R

• Sill (river), a river in Austria
• Sills Cummis & Gross (formerly Sills, Beck, Cummis, Radin, Tischman & Zuckerman), a U.S. corporate law firm

In geology, a sill is a tabular sheet intrusion that has intruded between older layers of sedimentary rock, beds of volcanic lava or tuff, or even along the direction of foliation in metamorphic rock. The term sill is synonymous with concordant intrusive sheet. This means that the sill does not cut across preexisting rocks, in contrast to dikes, discordant intrusive sheets which do cut across older rocks. Sills are fed by dikes, except in unusual locations where they form in nearly vertical beds attached directly to a magma source. The rocks must be brittle and fracture to create the planes along which the magma intrudes the parent rock bodies, whether this occurs along preexisting planes between sedimentary or volcanic beds or weakened planes related to foliation in metamorphic rock. These planes or weakened areas allow the intrusion of a thin sheet-like body of magma paralleling the existing bedding planes, concordant fracture zone, or foliations.

Sills parallel beds (layers) and foliations in the surrounding country rock. They can be originally emplaced in a horizontal orientation, although tectonic processes may cause subsequent rotation of horizontal sills into near vertical orientations. Sills can be confused with solidified lava flows; however, there are several differences between them. Intruded sills will show partial melting and incorporation of the surrounding country rock. On both contact surfaces of the country rock into which the sill has intruded, evidence of heating will be observed (contact metamorphism). Lava flows will show this evidence only on the lower side of the flow. In addition, lava flows will typically show evidence of vesicles (bubbles) where gases escaped into the atmosphere. Because sills generally form at shallow depths (up to many kilometers) below the surface, the pressure of overlying rock prevents this from happening much, if at all. Lava flows will also typically show evidence of weathering on their upper surface, whereas sills, if still covered by country rock, typically do not.

The Sill is a 35 km long river in Tyrol, Austria. It is one of the larger tributaries of the Inn River in the Austrian Tyrol. It flows through the Wipptal valley north to Innsbruck. Its source lies east of the Brenner Pass. At the "Sillzwickel" - the name of the point where it meets the Inn at Innsbruck - there is a big recreation area, with showers, toilets and cycle tracks.

The Viggarbach merges with it in Schönberg.

The natural river basin is about 855 km²; 31,6 km² are covered in glacier ice.

The water power generated by the river flow is used for three power plants providing the city and environs with electricity. In the Wipptal Valley the water quality is grade A to B. In the city area it is reduced to B because of sewage.

One interesting point on the river is the Sill Fall (see picture) which has a height of 4 metres. This is the point where water is taken out for urban use. In the fall basin, fish such as trout can be found. Also interesting is the Bretterkeller waterfall located at the bottom of the Paschberg in the city area of Innsbruck.

The River Sill features prominently in the stories Amras and ''Der Wetterfleck ''by the Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard.

Category:Rivers of Tyrol (state)