pill Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun something that resembles a tablet of medicine in shape or size
noun a dose of medicine in the form of a small pellet
lozenge; tab; tablet.
noun a unpleasant or tiresome person
noun something unpleasant or offensive that must be tolerated or endured
- his competitor's success was a bitter pill to take
noun a contraceptive in the form of a pill containing estrogen and progestin to inhibit ovulation and so prevent conception
birth control pill; contraceptive pill; oral contraceptive pill; oral contraceptive; anovulatory drug; anovulant.

Cf. Peel skin, or Pillion.

The peel or skin. Obs. "Some be covered over with crusts, or hard pills, as the locusts." Holland.

Cf. L. pilare to deprive of hair, and E. pill, n. (above).

To deprive of hair; to make bald. Obs.
To peel; to make by removing the skin.
[Jacob] pilled white streaks . . . in the rods. Gen. xxx. 37.

F. piller, L. pilare; cf. It. pigliare to take. Cf. Peel to plunder.

imperfect & past participle Pilled ; present participle & verbal noun Pilling

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.

F. pilute, L. pilula a pill, little ball, dim. of L. pila a ball. Cf. Piles.

A medicine in the form of a little ball, or small round mass, to be swallowed whole.
Figuratively, something offensive or nauseous which must be accepted or endured. esp., as bitter pill Udall. poison pill Fig., anything accompanying a desirable object or action, which makes it deleterious to him who accepts it; esp. (Finance) a provision in the regulations or financial structure (as indebtedness) of a company which makes the company undesirable as a target for a hostile takeover