Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Pill?

\Pill\, n. [Cf. {Peel} skin, or {Pillion}.] The peel or skin. [Obs.] ``Some be covered over with crusts, or hard pills, as the locusts.'' --Holland.
\Pill\, v. i. To be peeled; to peel off in flakes.
\Pill\, v. t. [Cf. L. pilare to deprive of hair, and E. pill, n. (above).] 1. To deprive of hair; to make bald. [Obs.] 2. To peel; to make by removing the skin. [Jacob] pilled white streaks . . . in the rods. --Gen. xxx. 37.
\Pill\, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. {Pilled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Pilling}.] [F. piller, L. pilare; cf. It. pigliare to take. Cf. {Peel} to plunder.] To rob; to plunder; to pillage; to peel. See {Peel}, to plunder. [Obs.] --Spenser. Pillers and robbers were come in to the field to pill and to rob. --Sir T. Malroy.
\Pill\, n. [F. pilute, L. pilula a pill, little ball, dim. of L. pila a ball. Cf. {Piles}.] 1. A medicine in the form of a little ball, or small round mass, to be swallowed whole. 2. Figuratively, something offensive or nauseous which must be accepted or endured.