GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 4 definitions

1.       
   nay (nā), adv. [Icel. nei; akin to E. no. See No, adv.]
   1. No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request made, now superseded by no.  Opposed to aye or yea. See also Yes.
   
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   And eke when I say “ye,” ne say not “nay.” Chaucer.
   
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   I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Luke xiii. 3.
   
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   And now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. Acts xvi. 37.
   
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   He that will not when he may,
   
   When he would he shall have nay. Old Prov.
   
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   ☞ Before the time of Henry VIII. nay was used to answer simple questions, and no was used when the form of the question involved a negative expression; nay was the simple form, no the emphatic.  Skeat.
   
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   2. Not this merely, but also; not only so, but; -- used to mark the addition or substitution of a more explicit or more emphatic phrase.
   
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   ☞ Nay in this sense may be interchanged with yea. “Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir.”  Shak.
   
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2.       
   No (nō), a. [OE. no, non, the same word as E. none; cf. E. a, an. See None.] Not any; not one; none; as, “yes, we have no bananas”; -- often used as a quantifier.
   
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   Let there be no strife . . . between me and thee. Gen. xiii. 8.
   
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   That goodness is no name, and happiness no dream. Byron.
   
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   ☞ In Old England before a vowel the form non or noon was used. “No man.” “Noon apothercary.”  Chaucer.
   
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3.       
   No, adv. [OE. no, na, AS. nā; ne not + ā ever. AS. ne is akin to OHG. ni, Goth. ni, Russ. ne, Ir., Gael. & W. ni, L. ne, Gr. νη (in comp.), Skr. na, and also to E. prefix un-. √ 193. See Aye, and cf. Nay, Not, Nice, Nefarious.] Nay; not; not at all; not in any respect or degree; -- a word expressing negation, denial, or refusal. Before or after another negative, no is emphatic.
   
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   We do no otherwise than we are willed. Shak.
   
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   I am perplx'd and doubtful whether or no
   
   I dare accept this your congratulation. Coleridge.
   
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   There is none righteous, no, not one. Rom. iii. 10.
   
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   No! Nay, Heaven forbid. Coleridge.
   
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4.       
   No (nō), n.; pl. Noes (nōz).
   1. A refusal by use of the word no; a denial.
   
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   2. A negative vote; one who votes in the negative; as, “to call for the ayes and noes; the noes have it.”
   
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