pill

[ pil ]

/ pɪl /

noun

a small globular or rounded mass of medicinal substance, usually covered with a hard coating, that is to be swallowed whole.

something unpleasant that has to be accepted or endured: Ingratitude is a bitter pill.

Slang. a tiresomely disagreeable person.

Sports Slang. a ball, especially a baseball or golf ball.

the pill. birth-control pill.

pills, British Slang. billiards.

verb (used with object)

to dose with pills.

to form or make into pills.

Slang. to blackball.

verb (used without object)

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

Idioms for pill

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

Origin of pill

1375–1425; late Middle English pille < Middle Low German, Middle Dutch pille ≪ Latin pilula, diminutive of pila ball; see -ule

Words nearby pill

piliferous, piliform, pilikia, piling, pilipino, pill, pill beetle, pill bug, pill popper, pill pusher, pill-rolling

Definition for pills (2 of 3)

pill ²

[ pil ]

/ pɪl /

verb (used with or without object)

British Dialect. to peel.

Obsolete. to become or cause to become bald.

Origin of pill

before 1100; Middle English pilen, Old English pilian to skin, peel < Latin pilāre to strip (said of hair). See pile³

Definition for pills (3 of 3)

pill ³

[ pil ]

/ pɪl /

verb (used with object) Archaic.

to rob, plunder, or pillage.

Origin of pill

1150–1200; Middle English; probably conflation of pill² with Middle French piller (see pillage)

Example sentences from the Web for pills

Rather than downing a handful of pills, I planned to take my life by opening a vein in each wrist.

Dear Leelah, We Will Fight On For You: A Letter to a Dead Trans Teen |Parker Molloy |January 1, 2015 |DAILY BEAST
Ten minutes after taking the pills, she reports that she “was really stoned, I mean, smashed.”

I Warned You About Bill Cosby in 2007 |Mark Ebner |November 20, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Death by pills or lethal injection might be unnatural, but she believes that declining nourishment and medications is not.

The Nurse Coaching People Through Death by Starvation |Nick Tabor |November 17, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The next thing I recall is that the doctor gave me pills in my bedroom.

The Honeymoon Murder Trial of British Millionaire Shrien Dewani Begins |Nico Hines |October 7, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

Also, at the time of his deposition Thicke had been off of pills for two months, because his wife left him in February.

Hey, Hey, Hey Robin Thicke Was Too Vicodin Wasted to Really Write ‘Blurred Lines’ |Amy Zimmerman |September 16, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
It sounds feasible—certainly if we can get all the way down with six pills we will save a lot of climbing.

The Girl in the Golden Atom |Raymond King Cummings
I fancy the idea of that is to beg the family never to be without Poulter's Pills.

The Lock And Key Library |Various
Madame Trouillard filled her reticule with pills and went away, after subscribing to all our sances, public and private.

Brother Jacques (Novels of Paul de Kock, Volume XVII) |Charles Paul de Kock
When she returned with it, he took two of the pills, then he laid his head back on the pillow.

A Knyght Ther Was |Robert F. Young
It is laughable to read of those days when men were drugged with pills, boluses and powders.

Caesar's Column |Ignatius Donnelly

British Dictionary definitions for pills (1 of 3)

pills

/ (pɪlz) /

pl n

a slang word for testicles See testicle

British Dictionary definitions for pills (2 of 3)

pill ¹

/ (pɪl) /

noun

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

the pill (sometimes capital) informal an oral contraceptive

something unpleasant that must be endured (esp in the phrase bitter pill to swallow)

slang a ball or disc

a small ball of matted fibres that forms on the surface of a fabric through rubbing

slang an unpleasant or boring person

verb

(tr) to give pills to

(tr) to make pills of

(intr)

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

(tr) slang to blackball

Word Origin for pill

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

British Dictionary definitions for pills (3 of 3)

pill ²

/ (pɪl) /

verb

archaic, or dialect to peel or skin (something)

archaic to pillage or plunder (a place)

obsolete to make or become bald

Word Origin for pill

Old English pilian, from Latin pilāre to strip

Medical definitions for pills

pill

[ pĭl ]

n.

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

An oral contraceptive.

Idioms and Phrases with pills

pill

see bitter pill to swallow; sugar the pill.

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

pill