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Webster 1913 Edition


Till

Till

,
Noun.
[Abbrev. from
lentil
.]
A vetch; a tare.
[Prov. Eng.]

Till

,
Noun.
[Properly, a drawer, from OE.
tillen
to draw. See
Tiller
the lever of a rudder.]
A drawer.
Specifically:
(a)
A tray or drawer in a chest.
(b)
A money drawer in a shop or store.
Till alarm
,
a device for sounding an alarm when a money drawer is opened or tampered with.

Till

,
Noun.
1.
(Geol.)
A deposit of clay, sand, and gravel, without lamination, formed in a glacier valley by means of the waters derived from the melting glaciers; – sometimes applied to alluvium of an upper river terrace, when not laminated, and appearing as if formed in the same manner.
2.
A kind of coarse, obdurate land.
Loudon.

Till

,
p
rep.
[OE.
til
, Icel.
til
; akin to Dan.
til
, Sw.
till
, OFries.
til
, also to AS.
til
good, excellent, G.
ziel
end, limit, object, OHG.
zil
, Goth.
tils
, ga
tils
, fit, convenient, and E.
till
to cultivate. See
Till
,
Verb.
T.
]
To; unto; up to; as far as; until; – now used only in respect to time, but formerly, also, of place, degree, etc., and still so used in Scotland and in parts of England and Ireland;
as, I worked
till
four o’clock; I will wait
till
next week.
He . . . came
till
an house.
Chaucer.
Women, up
till
this
Cramped under worse than South-sea-isle taboo.
Tennyson.
Similar sentiments will recur to every one familiar with his writings – all through them
till
the very end.
Prof. Wilson.
Till now
,
to the present time.
Till then
,
to that time.

Till

,
c
onj.
As far as; up to the place or degree that; especially, up to the time that; that is, to the time specified in the sentence or clause following; until.
And said unto them, Occupy
till
I come.
Luke xix. 13.
Mediate so long
till
you make some act of prayer to God.
Jer. Taylor.
There was no outbreak
till
the regiment arrived.
Macaulay.
☞ This use may be explained by supposing an ellipsis of when, or the time when, the proper conjunction or conjunctive adverb begin when.

Till

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Tilled
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Tilling
.]
[OE.
tilen
,
tilien
, AS.
tilian
,
teolian
, to aim, strive for, till; akin to OS.
tilian
to get, D.
telen
to propagate, G.
zielen
to aim,
ziel
an end, object, and perhaps also to E.
tide
,
time
, from the idea of something fixed or definite. Cf.
Teal
,
Till
,
p
rep.
.]
1.
To plow and prepare for seed, and to sow, dress, raise crops from, etc., to cultivate;
as, to
till
the earth, a field, a farm
.
No field nolde [would not]
tilye
.
P. Plowman.
the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to
till
the ground from whence he was taken.
Gen. iii. 23.
2.
To prepare; to get.
[Obs.]
W. Browne.

Till

,
Verb.
I.
To cultivate land.
Piers Plowman.

Webster 1828 Edition


Till

TILL

,
Noun.
A vetch; a tare. [Local.]

TILL


Definition 2024


Till

Till

See also: till and til

English

Proper noun

Till

  1. A river in Northumberland, England, tributary to the Tweed.
    • Traditional saying:
      Tweed says to Till:
      "What gars ye rin sae still ?"
      Till says to Tweed:
      "Tho ye rin wi' speed
      And I rin slaw
      Whar ye droon ae man,
      I droon twa !"

German

Etymology

Medieval diminutive of compound given names beginning with Diet- (such as Dieter or Dietrich), from the Old High German element thoit (people).

Proper noun

Till m (genitive Tills)

  1. A male given name.

Related terms

till

till

See also: Till and til

English

Related terms

Preposition

till

  1. (now dialectal) To.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur, Bk.XVIII, Ch.vii:
      Than the knyghtes parters of the lystis toke up Sir Madore and led hym tylle hys tente.
    • 1854, Prof. John Wilson, The Genius and Character of Burns, p.194 (Google preview):
      Similar sentiments will recur to everyone familiar with his writings all through them till the very end.
  2. Until, up to, as late as (a given time).
    I have to work till eight o'clock tonight.
    She stayed till the very end.
Synonyms
Translations

Conjunction

till

  1. Until, until the time that.
    Maybe you can, maybe you can't: you won't know till you try.
    • 1582, Douay–Rheims Bible, Song of Songs 2:7:
      [] that you stir not up, nor make the beloved to awake, till she please.
    • 1846, Edward Lear, The Book of Nonsense:
      She twirled round and round, / Till she sunk underground, []
    • 1912, anonymous, Punky Dunk and the Mouse, P.F. Volland & Co.:
      And the Mouse sat and laughed till he cried.
Synonyms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English tillen (to draw) from Old English *tyllan (as in betyllan (to lure, decoy) and fortyllan (to draw away); related to tollian). Cognate with Albanian ndjell (I lure, attract).

Or alternatively from Anglo-Norman tylle (compartment) from Old French tille (compartment, shelter on a ship) from Old Norse þilja (plank).

Noun

till (plural tills)

  1. A cash register.
  2. A removable box within a cash register containing the money.
    Pull all the tills and lock them in the safe.
  3. The contents of a cash register, for example at the beginning or end of the day or of a cashier's shift.
    My count of my till was 30 dollars short.
  4. (obsolete) A tray or drawer in a chest.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

From Old English tilian.

Verb

till (third-person singular simple present tills, present participle tilling, simple past and past participle tilled)

  1. (transitive) To develop so as to improve or prepare for usage; to cultivate (said of knowledge, virtue, mind etc.).
  2. (transitive) To work or cultivate or plough (soil); to prepare for growing vegetation and crops.
    • Bible, Genesis iii. 23
      The Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
  3. (intransitive) To cultivate soil.
  4. (obsolete) To prepare; to get.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of W. Browne to this entry?)
Quotations
  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:till.
Translations

Etymology 4

Unknown, but possibly via etymology 3 (the verb) because alluvial deposit is used as a fertilizer.

Noun

till (plural tills)

  1. glacial drift consisting of a mixture of clay, sand, pebbles and boulders
  2. (dialect) manure or other material used to fertilize land
Translations

Etymology 5

Shortened from lentil.

Noun

till (plural tills)

  1. A vetch; a tare.

References

  • till in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • till in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

References

  1. till” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: began · thy · less · #255: till · next · poor · present

Anagrams


Estonian

Noun

till (genitive tilli, partitive tilli)

  1. dill (herb)
  2. (slang) ****

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.


Scottish Gaelic

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tʰʲiːʎ/

Verb

till (past thill, future tillidh, verbal noun tilleadh, past participle tillte)

  1. to return, come back
  2. to relapse
    • Thill ris. ― He has got a relapse.

References

  • A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language (John Grant, Edinburgh, 1925, Compiled by Malcolm MacLennan)

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish til, from Old Norse til, from Proto-Germanic *tila- (goal), from Proto-Indo-European *ád (near, at).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tɪl/

Preposition

till

  1. to
    Välkommen till Sverige!
    Welcome to Sweden!
    Ge den till mig.
    Give it to me.
    Vi behöver två till fem nya datorer.
    We need two to five new computers.
  2. for
    en bra TV till ett bra pris
    a good TV for a good price
    Vad vill du ha till middags?
    What do you want for dinner?
    en present till min syster
    a present for my sister
    pengar till resan
    money for a trip
  3. with
    Jag tar mjölk till mitt kaffe
    I take milk with my coffee

Usage notes

Derived terms

Adverb

till

  1. another; in addition
    • Jag ska vara här en vecka till.
      • I'll be here for another week.