'Nay' definitions:
Definition of 'nay'
(from WordNet)
adverb
Not this merely but also; not only so but; "each of us is peculiar, nay, in a sense unique"
noun
A negative; "the nays have it" [ant: yea]
Definition of 'Nay'
From: GCIDE
- Nay \Nay\, n.; pl. Nays.
- 1. Denial; refusal. [1913 Webster]
- 2. A negative vote; one who votes in the negative. [1913 Webster]
- It is no nay, there is no denying it. [Obs.] --haucer. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Nay'
From: GCIDE
- Nay \Nay\, v. t. & i. To refuse. [Obs.] --Holinshed. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'nay'
From: GCIDE
- nay \nay\ (n[=a]), adv. [Icel. nei; akin to E. no. See No, adv.]
- 1. No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request made, now superseded by no. Opposed to aye or yea. See also Yes. [1913 Webster +PJC]
- And eke when I say "ye," ne say not "nay." --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. --Luke xiii. 3. [1913 Webster]
- And now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. --Acts xvi. 37. [1913 Webster]
- He that will not when he may, When he would he shall have nay. --Old Prov. [1913 Webster]
- Note: 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. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- Note: Nay in this sense may be interchanged with yea. "Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'nay'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abnegation,
- au contraire,
- Australian ballot,
- aye,
- ballot,
- canvass,
- canvassing,
- casting vote,
- certainly not,
- con,
- contradiction,
- counting heads,
- cumulative voting,
- deciding vote,
- declension,
- declination,
- declinature,
- declining,
- denial,
- deprivation,
- disagreement,
- disallowance,
- disclaimer,
- disclamation,
- disobedience,
- dissent,
- division,
- enfranchisement,
- fagot vote,
- far from it,
- franchise,
- graveyard vote,
- hand vote,
- Hare system,
- holding back,
- indeed,
- interest,
- list system,
- naysaying,
- negation,
- negative,
- negative answer,
- negative attitude,
- negativeness,
- negativism,
- negativity,
- nein,
- nit,
- nix,
- No,
- no,
- no such thing,
- non,
- nonacceptance,
- noncompliance,
- nonconsent,
- nonobservance,
- nontransferable vote,
- nope,
- not,
- not a bit,
- not a jot,
- not a whit,
- not really,
- not so,
- nyet,
- plebiscite,
- plebiscitum,
- plumper,
- plural vote,
- poll,
- polling,
- preferential voting,
- pro,
- proportional representation,
- proxy,
- quite the contrary,
- recantation,
- record vote,
- referendum,
- refusal,
- rejection,
- representation,
- repudiation,
- retention,
- right to vote,
- rising vote,
- say,
- secret ballot,
- show of hands,
- side,
- single vote,
- snap vote,
- straw vote,
- suffrage,
- the affirmative,
- the negative,
- thumbs-down,
- to the contrary,
- transferable vote,
- truly,
- turndown,
- unwillingness,
- verily,
- viva voce,
- voice,
- voice vote,
- vote,
- voting,
- voting right,
- withholding,
- write-in,
- write-in vote,
- yea,
- yeas and nays,
- yes