nay
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English nai, nei, from Old Norse nei (“no”), contraction of ne (“not”) + ei (“ever”), itself from Proto-Germanic *nai (“never”), *nē (“not”). More at no.
PronunciationEdit
InterjectionEdit
nay
Usage notesEdit
In Early Modern English, nay was used to respond to a positive question, while no was used to respond to a negative question. Over time, this distinction disappeared.
Derived termsEdit
ConjunctionEdit
nay
- or even, or more like, or should I say. Introduces a stronger and more appropriate expression than the preceding one.
- His face was dirty, nay filthy.
- 1663, Samuel Butler, 'Hudibras', part 1, canto 2:
- […] And proved not only horse, but cows, / Nay pigs, were of the elder house: / For beasts, when man was but a piece / Of earth himself, did th' earth possess.
- 1748, David Hume, chapter 18, in 'Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral', London: Oxford University Press, published 1973:
- And even in our wildest and most wandering reveries, nay in our very dreams, we shall find, if we reflect, that the imagination ran not altogether at adventures,
TranslationsEdit
or even
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NounEdit
nay (plural nays)
- A vote against.
- I vote nay, even though the motion is popular, because I would rather be right than popular.
- A person who voted against.
- The vote is 4 in favor and 20 opposed; the nays have it.
- (archaic) A denial; a refusal. [1]
- 14th c, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Clerk's Tale”, in D. Laing Purves, editor, 'The Canterbury Tales and Faerie Queene, with Other Poems of Chaucer and Spenser'[2], published 1870, page 100:
AntonymsEdit
- (A vote against): yea
VerbEdit
nay (third-person singular simple present nays, present participle naying, simple past and past participle nayed)
- (obsolete) To refuse.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Holinshed to this entry?)
AdjectiveEdit
nay (not comparable)