Definition: nay
Source: WordNet (r) 1.7
nay
n : a negative; "the nays have it" [ant: yea]
adv : not this merely but also; not only so but; "each of us is
peculiar, nay, in a sense unique"
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Nay \Nay\, 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 No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request made, now superseded by no. See Yes. And eke when I say ``ye,'' ne say not ``nay.'' --Chaucer. I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewisr perish. --Luke xiii. 3. And now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. --Acts xvi. 37. He that will not when he may, When he would he shall have nay. --Old Prov. 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. 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. Note: Nay in this sense may be interchanged with yea. ``Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir.'' --Shak.
Nay \Nay\, n.; pl. Nays. 1. Denial; refusal. 2. a negative vote; one who votes in the negative. It is no nay, there is no denying it. [Obs.] --haucer.
Nay \Nay\, v. t. & i. To refuse. [Obs.] --Holinshed.
