Definition: nil

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Source: WordNet (r) 1.7 

nil
     n 1: nothing (as used by a sheriff after an unsuccessful effort
          to serve a writ: "nihil habet") [syn: nihil]
     2: a quantity of no importance; "it looked like nothing I had
        ever seen before"; "reduced to nil all the work we had
        done"; "we racked up a pathetic goose egg"; "it was all
        for naught"; "I didn't hear zilch about it" [syn: nothing,
         nix, nada, null, aught, cipher, cypher, goose
        egg, naught, zero, zilch, zip]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 

Nil \Nil\ [See Nill, v. t.]
   Will not. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
Nil \Nil\, n. & a. [L., a contr. of nihil.]
   Nothing; of no account; worthless; -- a term often used for
   canceling, in accounts or bookkeeping. --A. J. Ellis.

Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10) 

NIL

   /nil/ 1. New Implementation of Lisp.  A language intended to
   be the successor of MacLisp.  A large Lisp, implemented
   mostly in VAX assembly language.  A forerunner of Common
   LISP.

   ["NIL: A Perspective", Jon L. White, MACSYMA Users' Conf Proc,
   1979].

   2. Network Implementation Language.  Strom & Yemini, TJWRC,
   IBM.  Implementation of complex networking protocols in a
   modular fashion.

   ["NIL: An Integrated Language and System for Distributed
   Programming", R. Strom et al, SIGPLAN Notices 18(6):73-82
   (June 1983)].

   3. Empty list or False.  In Lisp, the empty list (or "nil
   list") is used to represent the Boolean value False.  This
   is possible because Lisp is not typed.  True is represented
   by the special atom "t".

   4. Spoken in reply to a question, particularly one asked using
   the "-P" convention it means "No".  Most hackers assume this
   derives simply from LISP, but NIL meaning "no" was
   well-established among radio hams decades before LISP existed.
   The historical connection between early hackerdom and the ham
   radio world was strong enough that this may have been an
   influence.

   [Jargon File]

Source: Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) 

NIL /nil/ No. Used in reply to a question, particularly one asked using
   the `-P' convention. Most hackers assume this derives simply from LISP
   terminology for `false' (see also T), but NIL as a negative reply was
   well-established among radio hams decades before the advent of LISP. The
   historical connection between early hackerdom and the ham radio world
   was strong enough that this may have been an influence.