noun

• 1A shelf or slab of stone, wood, or metal at the foot of a window opening or doorway.

  ‘The designer suggested shortening window openings on one side of the kitchen, where sills were only 2 feet from the floor.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The library and its adjacent structure are detailed so that the viewer is gently aware of new sills and metal door frames and an illuminated linear storage unit.’
  • ‘This year the stone work lintels, sills and other features were restored and the general area around the church cleaned up.’
  • ‘The entrance door and flanking windows are emphatically Gothic with pointed arches, the doorway framed in granite and the windows with granite sills and lintels.’
  • ‘Features of the Fulton include reconstructed Portland stone features and detailing such as window surrounds, lintels and sills and sliding slash windows.’
  • ‘With respect to the hallways outside the offices on the fourth, third and second floors, the wooden sills on the windows at the ends of the hallways have had to be replaced.’
  • ‘When washing windows, wash sills and cross pieces first.’
  • ‘Painted surface friction points, such as window frames and sills, create paint dust.’
  • ‘The building's sweeping windows are equipped with light shelves - deep sills that provide shade and act as reflectors, bouncing light upward to illuminate the interior ceilings.’
  • ‘Having just removed a concrete set of steps on the front of the house, a small section of sill about two feet is rotted about halfway through.’
  • ‘Taking that as a friendly gesture, I leaned closer, but he panicked and scurried into the crack between the window sash and the sill.’
  • ‘Pay special attention to the bottom where the weather strip meets the sill.’
  • ‘The house retains its original twin windows and granite sills but is in need of renovation.’
  • ‘The original granite stone sills have been cleaned and repaired, and the original chimney stack at number 3, while no longer in use, has been retained.’
  • ‘Every penetration of the wall should be flashed, which keeps window heads and sills dry.’
  • ‘The crew took extra care and caution around the window dividers and sills - the European hand-blown glass costs thousands of dollars to replicate and replace.’
  • ‘In fact, the house was repainted last month, and the only part that needed significant scraping and sanding were the sills and trim, which were made of natural wood.’
  • ‘Scattered everywhere on sills, shelves, tables, and books are lapidary specimens.’
  • ‘Night deepened, and she sat by the window on the sill.’
  • ‘Lounging on the sill of the opposite window was a figure all dressed in black.’

  Synonyms

  ledge, bracket, sill, rack

  1. 1.1A strong horizontal beam forming a base in the frame of a timber-framed building.
     ‘Because Miller's family owns a sawmill, he agreed to take care of the sill plates, the truss material, and the rafters.’
     More example sentences

     • ‘The sill beam is a horizontal beam which may be set in a foundation trench or placed directly on the ground surface.’
  2. 1.2Each of the lower horizontal members of the frame of a cart or motor or rail vehicle.
     ‘Wide metal door sills and soft-blue ambient lighting welcome you into the car.’
     More example sentences

     • ‘Built in 1988, it had doors that dropped down into the high sills, like the window glass in a standard door.’
     • ‘I've got substantial front-end damage - bumper, bonnet, cross-member and sill.’
     • ‘But the sills are lower than the X-bone frame and thus don't impede cabin entry space too much.’
     • ‘Large longitudinal members tie into the side sills through large cross-section cross members, and distribute crash loads throughout the entire structure.’
  3. 1.3Geology A tabular sheet of igneous rock intruded between and parallel with the existing strata.
     Compare with dyke
     ‘Several igneous dikes and sills have been intruded into this sedimentary sequence, the largest of which is the Great Whin Sill, a quartz-orthopyroxene dolerite of late Carboniferous age.’
     More example sentences

     • ‘Clastic dykes do not exclusively intrude sediments; they also intrude granitic rock and mafic sills and are associated with lava flows in volcanic environments.’
     • ‘Other leucogranite sheets are intruded as layer-parallel sills along the main foliation.’
     • ‘This trend continues until in the Odiel River the mafic sills intrude the red mudrock-felsic volcaniclastic facies association.’
     • ‘The dip slopes are interpreted as separating individual sills near the base of the pluton.’
  4. 1.4An underwater ridge or rock ledge extending across the bed of a body of water.
     More example sentences

     • ‘Never be afraid to fish the turbulent, white water directly beneath the sill, for the water along the bottom may be quite calm in comparison to the surface.’
     Synonyms

     shelf, sill, mantel, mantelpiece, mantelshelf, shelving