WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Nay
Part of Speech : adv.
Etymology : [Icel. nei; akin to E. no. See No, adv.]
Definition : 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 No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request made, now superseded by no.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.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Nay
Part of Speech : n.;
Definition : 1. Denial; refusal.

2. a negative vote; one who votes in the negative. It is no nay, there is no denying it. [Obs.] haucer.

pl. Nays (.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Nay
Part of Speech : v.
Definition : Defn: To refuse. [Obs.] Holinshed.

t. & i.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913