nay Meaning, Definition & Usage

Nay adverb

Etymology

Icel. nei; akin to E. no. See No, adv.

Definitions

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 No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request made, now superseded by no.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.

   ✍ 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. ✍ Nay in this sense may be interchanged with yea. "Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir." Shak.

Nay noun

Wordforms

plural Nays

Definitions

1. Denial; refusal.
2. a negative vote; one who votes in the negative. haucer.

Nay transitive verb & intransitive verb

Definitions

1. To refuse. Obs. Holinshed.