pill

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Contents

English[edit]

Assorted pills

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle Low German or Middle Dutch pille (whence Dutch pil), probably from Latin pilula.

Noun[edit]

pill (plural pills)

  1. A small, usually cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some sort of medication.
    • 1864, Benjamin Ellis, The Medical Formulary [1]
      Take two pills every hour in the apyrexia of intermittent fever, until eight are taken.
  2. (informal, definite and uncountable) Contraceptive medication, usually in the form of a pill.
    • 1986, Jurriaan Plesman, Getting Off the Hook: Treatment of Drug Addiction and Social Disorders Through Body and Mind [2]
      Many specialists are requesting that this vitamin be included in all contraceptive pills, as women on the pill have a tendency to be depressed.
  3. (slang) A comical or entertaining person.
  4. (slang) A contemptible, annoying, or unpleasant person.
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter IV:
      You see, he's egging Phyllis on to marry Wilbert Cream. [...] And when a man like that eggs, something has to give, especially when the girl's a pill like Phyllis, who always does what Daddy tells her.
    • 2000, Susan Isaacs, Shining Through [3]
      Instead, I saw a woman in her mid-fifties, who was a real pill; while all the others had managed a decent “So pleased,” or even a plain “Hello,” Ginger just inclined her head, as if she was doing a Queen Mary imitation.
  5. (informal) A small piece of any substance, for example a ball of fibres formed on the surface of a textile by rubbing.
    • 1999, Wally Lamb, I Know This Much Is True [4]
      One sleeve, threadbare and loaded with what my mother called “sweater pills,” hung halfway to the floor.
  6. (archaic, baseball slang) A baseball.
    • 2002, John Klima, Pitched Battle: 35 of Baseball's Greatest Duels from the Mound [5]
      Mr. Fisher contributed to the Sox effort when he threw the pill past second baseman Rath after Felsch hit him a comebacker.
  7. (firearms) (informal) a bullet (projectile)
Synonyms[edit]
  • (small object for swallowing): tablet
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from pill (noun)
Translations[edit]
small object for swallowing
the pill - functions as a contraceptive
contemptible unpleasant person
small piece of any substance
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb[edit]

pill (third-person singular simple present pills, present participle pilling, simple past and past participle pilled)

  1. (intransitive, textiles) Of a woven fabric surface, to form small matted balls of fiber.
    • 1997, Jo Sharp, Knitted Sweater Style: Inspirations in Color [6]
      During processing, inferior short fibers (which can cause pilling and itching) are removed to enhance the natural softness of the yarn and to improve its wash-and-wear performance.
  2. To form into the shape of a pill.
    Pilling is a skill rarely used by modern pharmacists.
  3. To medicate with pills.
    She pills herself with all sorts of herbal medicines.
Translations[edit]
to form small matted balls of fiber
to form into a shape of pill
to medicate with pills

Etymology 2[edit]

From Latin pilō (“depilate”), from pilus (“hair”).

Verb[edit]

pill (third-person singular simple present pills, present participle pilling, simple past and past participle pilled)

  1. (obsolete) To peel; to remove the outer layer of hair, skin, or bark.
  2. (obsolete) To pillage; to despoil or impoverish.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XXI:
      he saw and harkened by the moonelyght how that pyllours and robbers were com into the fylde to pylle and to robbe many a full noble knyght [...].

Etymology 3[edit]

From Middle English *pill, *pyll, from Old English pyll (“a pool, pill”), from Proto-Germanic *pullijaz (“small pool, ditch, creek”), diminutive of Proto-Germanic *pullaz (“pool, stream”), from Proto-Indo-European *bale- (“bog, marsh”). Cognate with Old English pull (“pool, creek”), Scots poll (“slow moving stream, creek, inlet”), Icelandic pollur (“pond, pool, puddle”). More at pool.

Noun[edit]

pill (plural pills)

  1. (now UK regional) An inlet on the coast; a small tidal pool or bay.

Estonian[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Noun[edit]

pill (genitive pilli, partitive pilli)

  1. (music) instrument
Declension[edit]
Declension of pill (type paks)
singular plural
nominative pill pillid
genitive pilli pillide
partitive pilli pille
pillisid
illative pilli
pillisse		 pillidesse
pillesse
inessive pillis pillides
pilles
elative pillist pillidest
pillest
allative pillile pillidele
pillele
adessive pillil pillidel
pillel
ablative pillilt pillidelt
pillelt
translative pilliks pillideks
pilleks
terminative pillini pillideni
essive pillina pillidena
abessive pillita pillideta
comitative pilliga pillidega
Synonyms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Noun[edit]

pill (genitive pilli, partitive pilli)

  1. (medicine) pill
Declension[edit]
Declension of pill (type paks)
singular plural
nominative pill pillid
genitive pilli pillide
partitive pilli pille
pillisid
illative pilli
pillisse		 pillidesse
pillesse
inessive pillis pillides
pilles
elative pillist pillidest
pillest
allative pillile pillidele
pillele
adessive pillil pillidel
pillel
ablative pillilt pillidelt
pillelt
translative pilliks pillideks
pilleks
terminative pillini pillideni
essive pillina pillidena
abessive pillita pillideta
comitative pilliga pillidega
Synonyms[edit]

Scottish Gaelic[edit]

Noun[edit]

pill m

  1. genitive singular form of peall
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