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. pills, British Slang. 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. Compare depill.

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 /

verb

1. archaic.
   to peel or skin (something)
2. archaic.
   to pillage or plunder (a place)
3. obsolete.
   to make or become bald

pill

²

/ pɪl /

noun

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

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

Old English pilian, from Latin pilāre to strip

Origin of pill²

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

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. Take a chill pill! Disparaging Slang. chill pill ( def 2 ).

More idioms and phrases containing pill

see bitter pill to swallow ; sugar the pill .

Example Sentences

Regulators in South Africa have recalled a batch of the popular Yaz Plus contraceptive pill, after a packaging mix-up which means the contraception could be potentially ineffective.

From BBC

The result was a bitter pill for Prescott to swallow, with 78% of the votes cast against devolution.

From BBC

A police search found 96 ibuprofen tablets, laxatives, a feeding syringe and a pill crusher.

From BBC

Sue said: "I didn't want to put her on the pill because she's so young, but I had to. At the minute she's all good so it's solved the problem for her."

From BBC

Other pieces of her work, like a giant parking meter, pill box and a concrete-stump-turned-enlarged-prescription-bottle, were created in her Skid Row art studio and have dotted L.A.’s urban landscape in the past.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• dose
• medicine
• tablet