Pill

[pil] /pɪl/

noun
1.
a small globular or rounded mass of medicinal substance, usually covered with a hard coating, that is to be swallowed whole.
2.
something unpleasant that has to be accepted or endured:
Ingratitude is a bitter pill.
3.
Slang. a tiresomely disagreeable person.
4.
Sports Slang. a ball, especially a baseball or golf ball.
5.
the pill, .
6.
pills, British Slang. .
verb (used with object)
7.
to dose with pills.
8.
to form or make into pills.
9.
Slang. to blackball.
verb (used without object)
10.
to form into small, pill-like balls, as the fuzz on a wool sweater.
Compare .
Idioms
11.
Take a chill pill!, Disparaging Slang. (def 2).
[pil] /pɪl/
verb (used with or without object)
1.
British Dialect. to peel.
2.
Obsolete. to become or cause to become bald.
[pil] /pɪl/
verb (used with object), Archaic.
1.
to rob, plunder, or pillage.
/pɪl/
noun
1.
a small spherical or ovoid mass of a medicinal substance, intended to be swallowed whole
2.
(sometimes capital) (informal) the pill, an oral contraceptive
3.
something unpleasant that must be endured (esp in the phrase bitter pill to swallow)
4.
(slang) a ball or disc
5.
a small ball of matted fibres that forms on the surface of a fabric through rubbing
6.
(slang) an unpleasant or boring person
verb
7.
(transitive) to give pills to
8.
(transitive) to make pills of
9.
(intransitive)

10.
(transitive) (slang) to blackball
/pɪl/
verb
1.
(archaic or dialect) to peel or skin (something)
2.
(archaic) to pillage or plunder (a place)
3.
(obsolete) to make or become bald
n.

“small ball or round mass of medicine,” c.1400, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German pille and Middle French pile, all from Latin pilula “pill,” literally “little ball,” diminutive of pila “a ball, playing ball,” said to be related to pilus “hair” if the original notion was “hairball.” Figurative sense “something disagreeable that must be swallowed” is from 1540s; slang meaning “boring person” is recorded from 1871. The pill “contraceptive pill” is from 1957.
v.

1736, “to dose on pills,” from pill (n.). From 1882 as “to form into pills.” Related: Pilled; pilling.

pill (pĭl)
n.

noun

Related Terms

cook up a pill, pep pill

noun phrase

Any oral contraceptive for women: now that the joint and the pill are with us
see: