Pill
Pronunciation
- IPA: /pɪl/
- Rhymes: -ɪl
Origin 1
From Middle Low German or Middle Dutch pille (whence Dutch pil), probably from Latin pilula.
Full definition of pill
Noun
pill
(plural pills)- A small, usually cylindrical object designed for easy swallowing, usually containing some sort of medication.
- 1864, Benjamin Ellis, The Medical Formulary http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC14843090&id=pHoMvHRmrlIC&pg=PA170&lpg=PA170&dq=%22take+two+pills%22&as_brr=1Take two pills every hour in the apyrexia of intermittent fever, until eight are taken.
- (contraceptive) (informal, uncountable, definite, i.e. used with "the") Contraceptive medication, usually in the form of a pill to be taken by a woman; an oral contraceptive pill.Jane went on the pill when she left for college.She got pregnant one month after going off the pill.
- 1986, Jurriaan Plesman, Getting Off the Hook: Treatment of Drug Addiction and Social Disorders Through Body and Mind:Many specialists are requesting that this vitamin be included in all contraceptive pills, as women on the pill have a tendency to be depressed.
- (slang) A comical or entertaining person.
- (slang) A contemptible, annoying, or unpleasant person.
- 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, You see, he's egging Phyllis on to marry Wilbert Cream. ... And when a man like that eggs, something has to give, especially when the girl's a pill like Phyllis, who always does what Daddy tells her.
- 2000, Susan Isaacs, Shining Through http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0061030155&id=6_1FJWFEYGoC&pg=PA172&lpg=PA172&dq=%22a+real+pill%22&sig=RCUR5O3MhNXeq8rMOnx9-LR5MfoInstead, I saw a woman in her mid-fifties, who was a real pill; while all the others had managed a decent “So pleased,†or even a plain “Hello,†Ginger just inclined her head, as if she was doing a Queen Mary imitation.
- (informal) A small piece of any substance, for example a ball of fibres formed on the surface of a textile by rubbing.
- 1999, Wally Lamb, I Know This Much Is True http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0060987561&id=LOYeA9GmrEwC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=%22sweater+pills%22&sig=U11GOkTpfHlqyGyIdk7ZNZ0GNuIOne sleeve, threadbare and loaded with what my mother called “sweater pills,†hung halfway to the floor.
- (archaic, baseball slang) A baseball.
- 2002, John Klima, Pitched Battle: 35 of Baseball's Greatest Duels from the Mound http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0786412038&id=G126RsLD3MsC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=%22threw+the+pill%22&sig=NmyoxWN_bP5AHc9imVPMTxY7lvwMr. Fisher contributed to the Sox effort when he threw the pill past second baseman Rath after Felsch hit him a comebacker.
- (firearms) (informal) a bullet (projectile)
Synonyms
- (small object for swallowing) tablet
Derived terms
Verb
- (intransitive, textiles) Of a woven fabric surface, to form small matted balls of fiber.
- 1997, Jo Sharp, Knitted Sweater Style: Inspirations in Color http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1561581895&id=l5h-cGU5HUYC&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=sweater+pilling&sig=6gfLWBL1QHVQZmbSYhJ4oipm8KcDuring processing, inferior short fibers (which can cause pilling and itching) are removed to enhance the natural softness of the yarn and to improve its wash-and-wear performance.
- To form into the shape of a pill.Pilling is a skill rarely used by modern pharmacists.
- To medicate with pills.She pills herself with all sorts of herbal medicines.
Origin 2
From Latin pilÅ ("depilate"), from pilus ("hair").
Verb
- (obsolete) To peel; to remove the outer layer of hair, skin, or bark.
- To peel; to make by removing the skin.
- Bible, Genesis xxx. 37Jacob pilled white streaks ... in the rods.
- To be peeled; to peel off in flakes.
- (obsolete) To pillage; to despoil or impoverish.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XXI:he saw and harkened by the moonelyght how that pyllours and robbers were com into the fylde to pylle and to robbe many a full noble knyght ...
Noun
pill
(plural pills)Origin 3
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.