pill
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English pille (also pillem), a borrowing from Middle Low German pille or Middle Dutch pille (whence Dutch pil), probably from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin pilla, pilula.
Noun
pill (plural pills)
- A small, usually round or 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.
- 1864, Benjamin Ellis, The Medical Formulary [1]
- (informal, uncountable, definite, i.e. used with "the") Contraceptive medication, usually in the form of a pill to be taken by a woman; an oral contraceptive pill.
- Jane went on the pill when she left for college.
- She got pregnant one month after going off the pill.
- 1986, Jurriaan Plesman, Getting Off the Hook: Treatment of Drug Addiction and Social Disorders Through Body and Mind:
- Many specialists are requesting that this vitamin be included in all contraceptive pills, as women on the pill have a tendency to be depressed.
- (slang) A comical or entertaining person.
- (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 [2]
- 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.
- (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 [3]
- One sleeve, threadbare and loaded with what my mother called “sweater pills,” hung halfway to the floor.
- 1999, Wally Lamb, I Know This Much Is True [3]
- (archaic, baseball slang) A baseball.
- 1931, Canadian National Magazine
- "Strike two!" bawled the umpire. I threw the pill back to Tom with a heart which drummed above the noise of the rooters along the side lines.
- 2002, John Klima, Pitched Battle: 35 of Baseball's Greatest Duels from the Mound [4]
- Mr. Fisher contributed to the Sox effort when he threw the pill past second baseman Rath after Felsch hit him a comebacker.
- 1931, Canadian National Magazine
- (firearms, slang) A bullet (projectile).
- (graphical user interface) A rounded rectangle indicating the tag or category that an item belongs to.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
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Verb
pill (third-person singular simple present pills, present participle pilling, simple past and past participle pilled)
- (intransitive, textiles) Of a woven fabric surface, to form small matted balls of fiber.
- 1997, Jo Sharp, Knitted Sweater Style: Inspirations in Color [5]
- 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.
- 1997, Jo Sharp, Knitted Sweater Style: Inspirations in Color [5]
- To form into the shape of a pill.
- Pilling is a skill rarely used by modern pharmacists.
- To medicate with pills.
- She pills herself with all sorts of herbal medicines.
Translations
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Etymology 2
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin pilō (“depilate”), from pilus (“hair”).
Verb
pill (third-person singular simple present pills, present participle pilling, simple past and past participle pilled)
- (obsolete) To peel; to remove the outer layer of hair, skin, or bark.
- To peel; to make by removing the skin.
- To be peeled; to peel off in flakes.
- (obsolete) To pillage; to despoil or impoverish.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “iiij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XXI::
- So syr Lucan departed for he was greuously wounded in many places And so as he yede he sawe and herkened by the mone lyght how that pyllars and robbers were comen in to the felde To pylle and robbe many a ful noble knyghte of brochys and bedys of many a good rynge & of many a ryche Iewel / and who that were not deed al oute
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)
Noun
pill (plural pills)
- (obsolete) The peel or skin.
- (Can we date this quote by Holland and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Some be covered over with crusts, or hard pills, as the locusts.
- 1682, A perfect school of Instructions for the Officers of the Mouth
- To make Sallet of Lemon pill, or green Citron. You must have your Lemon Pill preserved very green, Rasp it into a Dish, and raise it up lightly with a Fork […]
- (Can we date this quote by Holland and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
Etymology 3
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English *pill, *pyll, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English pyll (“a pool, pill”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *pullijaz (“small pool, ditch, creek”), diminutive of (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *pullaz (“pool, stream”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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
pill (plural pills)
Albanian
Etymology
A form of pidh from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Albanian *pizda, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *písdeh₂ (“pudenda”). Cognate to Lithuanian pyzdà (“pudenda”) and Russian пизда (pizda, “pudenda”)
Noun
pill
Synonyms
Estonian
Etymology 1
Noun
pill (genitive pilli, partitive pilli)
Declension
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
Etymology 2
Noun
pill (genitive pilli, partitive pilli)
Declension
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
Scottish Gaelic
Noun
pill m
Mutation
Scottish Gaelic mutation | |
---|---|
Radical | Lenition |
pill | phill |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
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- Rhymes:English/ɪl
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle Low German
- English terms derived from Middle Dutch
- English terms derived from Latin
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
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- en:Baseball
- en:Firearms
- en:Graphical user interface
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Textiles
- English terms with obsolete senses
- Requests for quotations/Spenser
- Requests for date/Holland
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- British English
- Regional English
- en:Birth control
- Albanian terms derived from Proto-Albanian
- Albanian terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Albanian lemmas
- Albanian nouns
- Estonian lemmas
- Estonian nouns
- et:Music
- Estonian paks-type nominals
- et:Medicine
- Scottish Gaelic non-lemma forms
- Scottish Gaelic noun forms