Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Nay?

\Nay\, 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 No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request made, now superseded by no. See {Yes}. And eke when I say ``ye,'' ne say not ``nay.'' --Chaucer. I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewisr perish. --Luke xiii. 3. And now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. --Acts xvi. 37. He that will not when he may, When he would he shall have nay. --Old Prov. Note: 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. 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. Note: Nay in this sense may be interchanged with yea. ``Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir.'' --Shak.
\Nay\, n.; pl. {Nays}. 1. Denial; refusal. 2. a negative vote; one who votes in the negative. {It is no nay}, there is no denying it. [Obs.] --haucer.
\Nay\, v. t. & i. To refuse. [Obs.] --Holinshed.