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.

Nearby words

Idioms

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

Definition for pills (2 of 3)

pill

[ 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

[ 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)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples 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 testiclesSee testicle

British Dictionary definitions for pills (2 of 3)

pill

/ (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

/ (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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pills (1 of 2)

pill

"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.

Word Origin and History for pills (1 of 2)

pill

1736, "to dose on pills," from pill (n.). From 1882 as "to form into pills." Related: Pilled; pilling.

Medicine 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.

pill

noun

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

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RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Idioms

Origin of pill

Definition for pills (2 of 3)

pill

verb (used with or without object)

Origin of pill

Definition for pills (3 of 3)

pill

verb (used with object) Archaic.

Origin of pill

Examples from the Web for pills

British Dictionary definitions for pills (1 of 3)

pills

pl n

British Dictionary definitions for pills (2 of 3)

pill

noun

verb

Word Origin for pill

British Dictionary definitions for pills (3 of 3)

pill

verb

Word Origin for pill

Word Origin and History for pills (1 of 2)

pill

Word Origin and History for pills (1 of 2)

pill

Medicine definitions for pills

pill

n.

Idioms and Phrases with pills

pill