GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 4 definitions

1.       
   nay , adv. [Icel. nei; akin to E. no. See No, adv.]
   No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request made, now superseded by no.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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   +PJC
   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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   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 , 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 , n.; pl. Noes .
   A refusal by use of the word no; a denial.
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   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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