pill1

[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, birth-control pill.
6.
pills, British Slang. billiards.
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 depill.
Idioms
11.
Take a chill pill!, Disparaging Slang. chill pill (def 2).
Origin
1375-1425; late Middle English pille < Middle Low German, Middle Dutch pille ≪ Latin pilula, diminutive of pila ball; see -ule

pill2

[pil] /pɪl/
verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
1.
British Dialect. to peel.
2.
Obsolete. to become or cause to become bald.
Origin
before 1100; Middle English pilen, Old English pilian to skin, peel < Latin pilāre to strip (said of hair). See pile3

pill3

[pil] /pɪl/
verb (used with object), Archaic.
1.
to rob, plunder, or pillage.
Origin
1150-1200; Middle English; probably conflation of pill2 with Middle French piller (see pillage)
Examples from the web for pills
  • Not long after, she took her life by taking an excess of sleeping pills.
  • Two letters appended to prescriptions, and meaning as much as is required to make the pills up.
  • It is better not to make the trip at all than to fail to take an ample supply of quinine pills.
  • But the dosage of estrogen in current birth control pills has been dramatically reduced.
  • So she took the pills, but they made her feel even weirder.
  • One solution to the problem, the scientists said, would be to develop pills with concentrated doses of the compound.
  • Take two pills of sense and a spoonful of dignity and the symptoms of a test-crazed era will be gone in the morning.
  • Aside from the pills she took from this company, she has no allergies at all.
  • Tiny amounts of the estrogen used in birth control pills can cause wild fish populations to collapse, according to a new study.
  • Another group took the same pills but was told the drugs were inexpensive.
British Dictionary definitions for pills

pills

/pɪlz/
plural noun
1.
a slang word for testicles See testicle

pill1

/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)
  1. to form into small balls
  2. (of a fabric) to form small balls of fibre on its surface through rubbing
10.
(transitive) (slang) to blackball
See also pills
Word Origin
C15: from Middle Flemish pille, from Latin pilula a little ball, from pila ball

pill2

/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
Word Origin
Old English pilian, from Latin pilāre to strip
Word Origin and History for pills

pill

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.

pills in Medicine

pill (pĭl)
n.

  1. A small pellet or tablet of medicine, often coated, taken by swallowing whole or by chewing.

  2. An oral contraceptive.

Slang definitions & phrases for pills

pill

noun
  1. A boring, disagreeable person; a PAIN IN THE ASS: Oh, don't be a pill, Valerie (1871+)
  2. A baseball or golf ball (1906+)
  3. An opium pellet for smoking (1887+ Narcotics)
  4. A Nembutal2 capsule; nimby (1950s+ Narcotics)
  5. A bomb, cannonball, bullet, etc: He was drinking coffee when the big pill came down (1626+)
Related Terms

cook up a pill, pep pill


pill

noun phrase

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


Idioms and Phrases with pills

pill

see: