dell

• enPR: dĕl, IPA^(key): /dɛl/

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• Rhymes: -ɛl

From Middle English delle, del, from Old English dell (“small dale”), from Proto-West Germanic *dalljā, from Proto-Germanic *daljō (“a hollow”), related to *dalą (“valley, dale”).

dell (plural dells)

1. A valley, especially in the form of a natural hollow, small and deep.[1]
   • 1794, William Blake, The Little Girl Found, lines 49-50

     To this day they dwell

     In a lonely dell.

   • 1722, Thomas Tickell, Kensington Gardens

     In dells and dales, conceal'd from human sight.

• dale
• dingle
• vale
• valley
• See also Thesaurus:valley

Origin obscure. Originally thieves' cant. Compare Dutch del (“trollop, floozie”). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

dell (plural dells)

1. (obsolete) A young woman; a wench.
   • 1621 August 13 (first performance; Gregorian calendar)​, Ben Jonson, “The Masque of the Gypsies”, in Q. Horatius Flaccus: His Art of Poetry. […], London: […] J[ohn] Okes, for John Benson […], published 1640, →OCLC:

     Sweet doxies and dells

• arch dell
• wapping dell

From Proto-Albanian *daislā, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰiH-slo (compare Latin fīlum, Lithuanian gýsla, Serbo-Croatian žȉla).[1]

dell m (indefinite plural dej, definite singular delli, definite plural dejtë)

1. (anatomy) tendon
2. sinew

From Arabic ظِلّ‎ (ẓill).

• IPA^(key): /dɛll/

dell m (plural dellijiet or dliel)

1. shade, shadow

dell (verbal noun dellal)

1. to negotiate, deal, trade, traffic

dell

1. Alternative form of delle

dell

1. Alternative form of del
   • 1867, OBSERVATIONS BY THE EDITOR:

     dell, for till;

     ——————

• Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 17