pill Hear it!

pill1 definition

pill (pil)

noun

  1. a small ball, tablet, capsule, etc. of medicine to be swallowed whole
  2. anything unpleasant but unavoidable
    1. something like a pill in shape
    2. Slang a baseball, golf ball, etc.
  4. Slang an unpleasant or boring person

Etymology: LME pylle, contr. < L pilula, dim. of pila, a ball: see piles

transitive verb

  1. to dose with pills
  2. to form into pills
  3. Slang to blackball

intransitive verb

to form into small balls, as fuzz on a fabric
pill Idioms

the pill

or the Pill
☆ Informal any contraceptive drug for women, taken in the form of a pill
pill2 definition

pill (pil)

transitive verb, intransitive verb

  1. Archaic to pillage; plunder
  2. Now Brit., Dialectal to peel

Etymology: ME pilien, to rob, peel, ult. < ? L pilare, to make bald < pilus, a hair

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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