nill
nounEtymology Compare Irish néal and Scottish Gaelic neul (“star, light”). Compare nebula.
1
Shining sparks thrown off from melted brass.
2
Scales of hot iron from the forge.
nill
verb/nɪl/
Etymology From Middle English nillen, from Old English nyllan (“to not want”), corresponding to ne + will. Cognate with Old Frisian nelle. Not directly related to Latin nolo, which is an independent construction of the same manner, but the morphemes that compound both verbs are cognates.
1
Modal, Obsolete To be unwilling; will not (+ infinitive).
- I here auow thee neuer to forſake. Ill weares he armes, that nill them vſe for Ladies ſake.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 465:
- What I nill tell, you aske (quoth ſhe) in vaine, Nor mou’d by praier, nor conſtraind by powre[…]1600, [Torquato Tasso], “The Twelfth Booke of Godfrey of Bulloigne”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC, stanza 61, page 225:
2
Archaic To be unwilling.
- I must indeed abide the Doom of Men, whether I will or I nill:[…]1955 October 20, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “Appendix A”, in The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings […], New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published December 1978, →ISBN, page 427:
3
Archaic To reject, refuse, negate.
- Certes (ſayd he) I n’ill thine offred grace, Ne to be made ſo happy doe intend[…].1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 280:
- Derived terms
- willy-nilly