till

¹ American  

[til] / tɪl /

verb (used with object)

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

2. to plow.

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verb (used without object)

1. to cultivate the soil.

till ² American  

[til] / tɪl /

noun

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

2. a stiff clay.

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till ³ American  

[til] / tɪl /

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.

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conjunction

1. to the time that or when; until.

2. before (used in negative constructions).

till ⁴ American  

[til] / tɪl /

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.

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till ¹ British  

/ tɪl /

verb

1. to cultivate and work (land) for the raising of crops

2. another word for plough

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till ² British  

/ tɪl /

conjunction

1. Also (not standard): 'til.  short for until

2. to; towards

3. dialect in order that

   come here till I tell you

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till ³ British  

/ tɪl /

noun

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

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till ⁴ British  

/ tɪl /

noun

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

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till Scientific  

/ 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.

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till Idioms  

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

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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

Commonly Confused

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.

Other Word Forms

• mistilled adjective
• tillable adjective
• tiller noun
• untilled adjective
• untilling adjective
• well-tilled adjective

Etymology

Origin of till¹

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 till¹

First recorded in 1665–75; origin uncertain

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 till¹

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”

Example Sentences

Carey expected England to fight till the bitter end on Sunday and said he was still not thinking about winning the Ashes.

From Barron's

Sometimes I’ll find myself in their lobby till 12 o’clock at night.

From Los Angeles Times

"I am a Lutonian, so knowing there's so many homeless people and you don't realise till you come down and see it first hand just how many are queuing up," she said.

From BBC

Yogi Berra taught us that “it ain’t over till it’s over,” but investors do tend to stop paying attention to the quarterly earnings season before it’s actually completed.

From Barron's

But it was the first operational jet — you didn’t know till you flew it.

From Los Angeles Times