pill

¹

[pil]

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. birth-control pill.

6. British Slang.,  pills, billiards.

verb (used with object)

1. to dose with pills.

2. to form or make into pills.

3. Slang.,  to blackball.

verb (used without object)

1. to form into small, pill-like balls, as the fuzz on a wool sweater.

pill

²

[pil]

verb (used with or without object)

1. British Dialect.,  to peel.

2. Obsolete.,  to become or cause to become bald.

pill

³

[pil]

verb (used with object)

Archaic.

1. to rob, plunder, or pillage.

pill

¹

/ pɪl /

noun

1. a small spherical or ovoid mass of a medicinal substance, intended to be swallowed whole

2. informal,  (sometimes capital) 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

1. (tr) to give pills to

2. (tr) to make pills of

3. (intr)

   1. to form into small balls

   2. (of a fabric) to form small balls of fibre on its surface through rubbing

4. slang,  (tr) to blackball

pill

²

/ pɪl /

verb

1. archaic,  to peel or skin (something)

2. archaic,  to pillage or plunder (a place)

3. obsolete,  to make or become bald

Word History and Origins

Origin of pill¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; Middle English pille, from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch pille, Old French pile, from Latin pilula “little ball, globule, pellet,” diminutive of pila “ball”; -ule

Origin of pill²

First recorded before 1100; Middle English pilen “to rob, steal, plunder,” Old English pilian “to skin, peel,” from Latin pilāre “to pluck, remove (hair or feathers)” pile ³

Origin of pill³

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English pile(n), pille(n), pilie(n), probably conflation of pill ² with Middle French piller, peler ( pillage )

Word History and Origins

Origin of pill¹

C15: from Middle Flemish pille, from Latin pilula a little ball, from pila ball

Origin of pill²

Old English pilian, from Latin pilāre to strip

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. Take a chill pill! chill pill.

see bitter pill to swallow; sugar the pill.

Example Sentences

These blue pills were a fake and powerful version of the anti-anxiety medication, Valium, and they were deadly.

From BBC

Neil’s father, who has health problems, assumes his son will join him in his painting business; Topher’s are conservative stuck-up pills who, like Amanda, have him slated for a career in finance.

From Los Angeles Times

But in the 1970s, scientific advances like the birth control pill challenged the business world and certain religious factions, which formed an unlikely alliance against that bipartisan consensus.

From Salon

Luis developed a rash, but at the medical clinic he was given allergy medication and sleeping pills.

From Los Angeles Times

Neither juvenile ingested the pills, and field testing showed them to contain illegal narcotics.

From Salon

Related Words

• dose 
• medicine 
• tablet