Pill Definition

pĭl
pills
noun
pills
A small ball, tablet, capsule, etc. of medicine to be swallowed whole.
Webster's New World
An oral contraceptive. Used with the.
American Heritage Medicine
Anything unpleasant but unavoidable.
Webster's New World
Something like a pill in shape.
Webster's New World
A baseball, golf ball, etc.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
verb
To dose with pills.
Webster's New World
To form into pills.
Webster's New World
To form into small balls, as fuzz on a fabric.
Webster's New World
To blackball.
Webster's New World
To pillage; plunder.
Webster's New World
idiom
the pill
  • any contraceptive drug for women, taken in the form of a pill
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Pill

Noun

Singular:
pill
Plural:
pills

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Pill

  • the pill

Origin of Pill

  • From Middle English *pill, *pyll, from Old English pyll (“a pool, pill"), from Proto-Germanic *pullijaz (“small pool, ditch, creek"), diminutive of Proto-Germanic *pullaz (“pool, stream"), from Proto-Indo-European *bale- (“bog, marsh"). Cognate with Old English pull (“pool, creek"), Scots poll (“slow moving stream, creek, inlet"), Icelandic pollur (“pond, pool, puddle"). More at pool.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English pille from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German pille Old French pile all from Latin pilula diminutive of pila ball

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English pillen to plunder, peel from Old English pilian peel1 and from Old French piller to plunder pillage

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Middle Low German or Middle Dutch pille (whence Dutch pil), probably from Latin pilula.

    From Wiktionary

  • From Latin pilō (“depilate"), from pilus (“hair").

    From Wiktionary

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