till

¹

[ til ]

preposition

1. up to the time of; until:

   to fight till death.

2. before (used in negative constructions):

   He did not come till today.

3. near or at a specified time:

   till evening.

4. Chiefly Midland, Southern, and Western U.S. before; to:

   It's ten till four on my watch.

5. Scot. and North England.
   1. to.
   2. unto.

conjunction

1. to the time that or when; until.
2. before (used in negative constructions).

till

²

[ til ]

verb (used with object)

1. to labor, as by plowing or harrowing, upon (land) for the raising of crops; cultivate.
2. to plow.

verb (used without object)

1. to cultivate the soil.

till

³

[ til ]

noun

1. a drawer, box, or the like, as in a shop or bank, in which money is kept.
2. a drawer, tray, or the like, as in a cabinet or chest, for keeping valuables.
3. an arrangement of drawers or pigeonholes, as on a desk top.

till

⁴

[ til ]

noun

1. Geology. glacial drift consisting of an unassorted mixture of clay, sand, gravel, and boulders.
2. a stiff clay.

till

¹

/ tɪl /

verb

1. to cultivate and work (land) for the raising of crops
2. another word for plough

till

²

/ tɪl /

conjunction

1. Also (not standard)'til short for until
2. to; towards
3. dialect.
   in order that

   come here till I tell you

till

³

/ tɪl /

noun

1. a box, case, or drawer into which the money taken from customers is put, now usually part of a cash register

till

⁴

/ tɪl /

noun

1. an unstratified glacial deposit consisting of rock fragments of various sizes. The most common is boulder clay

till

/ tĭl /

1. An unstratified, unconsolidated mass of boulders, pebbles, sand, and mud deposited by the movement or melting of a glacier. The size and shape of the sediments that constitute till vary widely.

Usage

Till is a variant of until that is acceptable at all levels of language. Until is, however, often preferred at the beginning of a sentence in formal writing: until his behaviour improves, he cannot become a member

Confusables Note

Till1 and until are both old in the language and are interchangeable as both prepositions and conjunctions: It rained till (or until ) nearly midnight. The savannah remained brown and lifeless until (or till ) the rains began. Till is not a shortened form of until and is not spelled 'till. 'Til is usually considered a spelling error, though widely used in advertising: Open 'til ten.

Derived Forms

• ˈtiller, noun
• ˈtillable, adjective

Other Words From

• mis·tilled adjective
• un·tilled adjective
• un·tilling adjective
• well-tilled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of till¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English (north) til “to,” from Old Norse til “to,” akin to Old English till “station, fixed point, standing-place” German Ziel “goal”

Origin of till²

First recorded before 900; Middle English tilen, Old English tilian “to strive after, get, till”; cognate with Dutch telen “to breed, cultivate,” German zielen “to aim at”

Origin of till³

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English tylle, noun use of tylle “to draw, attract,” Old English -tyllan (in fortyllan “to seduce”); akin to Latin dolus “trick,” Greek dólos “bait (for fish); any cunning contrivance; treachery”

Origin of till⁴

First recorded in 1665–75; origin uncertain

Word History and Origins

Origin of till¹

Old English tilian to try, obtain; related to Old Frisian tilia to obtain, Old Saxon tilōn to obtain, Old High German zilōn to hasten towards

Origin of till²

Old English til; related to Old Norse til to, Old High German zil goal, aim

Origin of till³

C15 tylle, of obscure origin

Origin of till⁴

C17: of unknown origin

Idioms and Phrases

In addition to the subsequent idioms beginning with till , also see hand in the till ; until .

Example Sentences

Like their American counterparts, Russian police operate on a system of quotas, and to meet those demands a common tactic was to catch a low-level seller or user, then put the squeeze on them till they turn in their buddies.

From Salon

Our friend Jeff Sharlet reacted by saying that Biden’s speech was misinformation: “A moderate- or low-information voter who tuned in to that, not sure what to think, would have come away thinking that the Democrats had lost to a Mitt Romney or a John McCain. They would take it as permission to tune out again till ’28.”

From Slate

“And I think that was the beginning of the rot, which we are paying a price for till today.”

From Salon

“You will come back on the 13 November, when the case will come up for mention. You are remanded at Kigo prison till then,” the magistrate ordered.

From BBC

The actor, who won accolades in 2022 for her heartbreaking performance as civil rights advocate Mamie Till-Mobley in “Till,” was describing the emotional journey of her latest project, “The Piano Lesson,” when she suddenly leaned sideways in her chair, twisting her neck at an awkward angle.

From Los Angeles Times