hill / hil/ • n. 1. a naturally raised area of land, not as high or craggy as a mountain. ∎  a sloping piece of road or trail: they were climbing a steep hill in low gear. ∎  a heap or mound of something: a hill of sliding shingle. 2. (the Hill) inf. short for Capitol Hill.• v. [tr.] 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 inf. a thing of little value: the problems of one old actor don't amount to a hill of beans. as old as the hills see old.over the hill inf. old and past one's prime. up hill and down dale see up.

hill a naturally raised area of land. In North America, the Hill is informal name for the US Senate, or the Canadian federal parliament or government.
old as the hills of very long standing or great age. Hills in the Bible are a metaphor for permanence.
over the hill old and past one's best.

See also hill of beans, blue are the hills that are far away, Seven Hills of Rome at seven.

Hill

a heap of earth raised about the root of crops, hence, the crops themselves; an enormous mass or quantity.

Examples: hill of corn, 1817; of fire, 1320; of guilt, 1644; of knowledge, 1851; of dead men, 1450; of potatoes, 1799; of proud and rich folk, 1440; of ruffs [bird of the sandpiper family], 1875; of snow, 1784; of heavenly truth, 1644.

hill OE. hyll = LG. hull, MDu. hil(le), hul :- WGmc. *χulni, rel. to L. collis, Gr. kolōnós, kolōnḗ, Lith. kálnas hill.
Hence hillock, hilly XIV.