hill

 
Pronunciation: /hɪl/

noun

  • a naturally raised area of land, not as high or craggy as a mountain.
  • a sloping stretch of road: they were climbing a steep hill in low gear
  • a heap or mound of something: a hill of sliding shingle

verb

[with object]
  • form (something) into a heap.
  • bank up (a plant) with soil: if frost threatens our new plants, we hill them up

Phrases

a hill of beans

[with negative] North American informal a thing of little value: the problems of one old actor don’t amount to a hill of beans

over the hill

informal old and past one’s best: a once famous ballerina, now over the hill

Origin:

Old English hyll, of Germanic origin; from an Indo-European root shared by Latin collis and Greek kolōnos 'hill'