no
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /nəʊ/
rhymes: -əʊ
ipa: /niː/
ipa: /neɪ/
ipa: /næ/
ipa: /nɜː/
ipa: /nɑː/
ipa: /noʊ/
ipa: /nəʉ/
ipa: /nɐʉ/
ipa: /nɐʉ/
ipa: /nœʊ/
ipa: [noʊ̯]
ipa: [noː]
homophone: know
homophone: noh
Forms: form: noes
form: noing
form: noed
form: noed
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English no, na, from Old English nā, nō (“no, not, not ever, never”), from Proto-West Germanic *naiwō, from Proto-Germanic *naiwô (“never”), *ne (“not”), from Proto-Indo-European *né, *nē, *nēy (negative particle), equivalent to Old English ne (“not”) + ā, ō (“ever, always”). Cognate with Scots na (“no”), Saterland Frisian noa (“no”), West Frisian né (“no”), nea (“never”), Dutch nee (“no”), Low German nee (“no”), German nie (“never”), dialectal German nö (“no”), Danish nej (“no”), Swedish nej (“no”), Icelandic nei (“no”). More at nay.
Senses: examples: text: She felt disquiet at these tales of Musa’s illicit activities. ‘Does your father know?’ / ‘My father always noes. He never yeses. Specially when he’s sick, then he noes all the time. I gotta get out. Can’t stick around the house with him yelling.[…]’
ref: 1983, Sasha Moorsom, chapter 5, in In the Shadow of the Paradise Tree, London; Melbourne, Vic.; Henley-on-Thame, Oxfordshire: Routledge & Kegan Paul, →ISBN, page 80:
text: “Heaven knows why a woman ‘Noes’!” / Clarrie nodded glumly. “And why she ‘Yesses’ in the end.”
ref: 1994, Malcolm Ross, “Part Three: The New Woman”, in Kernow & Daughter, London: BCA, →ISBN, page 293:
text: There were days, entire years of his life, spent yessing and noing on the phone, picking up and hanging up and accomplishing nothing at all.
ref: 2001, Nicholas Weinstock, “The Flowers”, in As Long As She Needs Me, New York, N.Y.: Perennial, published 2002, →ISBN, page 140:
glosses: To say “no”.
examples: text: Never accustom yourself to say ‘Yes,’—practise an emphatic and decisive enunciation of the far more dignified and important monosyllable, ‘No.’ […] Believe me, it is of the utmost importance (the advice is not of recent date) that you should No the world.
ref: 1835 April, “The Whimsey Papers.—No. II. Vague Conclusions Concerning Selfishness and Benevolence—Vivid the Casuist—Skinflint the Misanthrope—Green, the Good-Natured Man.”, in [Caroline Norton], editor, The Court Magazine, […], volume VI, number IV, London: Edward Churton, […], →OCLC, page 168, column 1:
text: BUDGET DIRECTOR SMITH / The President yessed his report […] SENATOR McCARRAN / He noed the President’s report
ref: 1940 March 17, “Back of the CAA Fight: Independence or Closer Executive Control of Aviation Agency”, in David Lawrence, editor, The United States News, Washington, D.C.: United States News Publishing Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 33, column 2:
text: Yet in every such instance—and there are scores of them—the Justices can do nothing but impotently point toward future action after Yessing or Noing past action by men in a position to act.
ref: 1955, Fred Rodell, “Powerful, Irresponsible, and Human”, in Nine Men: A Political History of the Supreme Court from 1790 to 1955, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 12:
glosses: To answer with “no”; to decline, reject.