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nill. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
nill, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
nill in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
nill you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Pronunciation
Homophone: nil
Etymology 1
From Middle English nillen, from Old English nyllan (“to not want”), corresponding to ne + will. Cognate with Old Frisian nelle. Unrelated to Latin nolo which is constructed the same way, but the morphemes that compound both verbs are cognates.
Verb
nill (third-person singular simple present nills, present participle nilling, simple past and past participle nilled or (obsolete) nould)
- (modal auxiliary, obsolete) To be unwilling; will not (+ infinitive).
1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The Twelfth Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. , London: Ar Hatfield, for I Iaggard and M Lownes, →OCLC, stanza 61, page 225:What I nill tell, you aske (quoth ſhe) in vaine, / Nor mou’d by praier, nor conſtraind by powre […]
- (intransitive, archaic) To be unwilling.
- (transitive, archaic) To reject, refuse, negate.
Derived terms
Etymology 2
Compare Irish and Gaelic neul star, light. Compare nebula.
Noun
nill
- Shining sparks thrown off from melted brass.
- Scales of hot iron from the forge.
Etymology 3
From Medieval Latin nil and nihil (“nothing”) to represent German nichts and nix (“nothing”), confused with Latin nix (“snow, snow-white thing”), used for white forms of zinc oxide. Doublet of nihil album.
Noun
nill (uncountable)
- (obsolete) Synonym of zinc oxide, particularly white forms used in medicine and cosmetics.
References
- Edward H[enry] Knight (1877) “Nill”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. , volumes II (GAS–REA), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton , →OCLC.
- “† nill, n.².”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2021.