View synonyms for pill

pill

[ pil ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

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.

pill

[ pil ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

verb (used with or without object)

British Dialect. to peel.
Obsolete. to become or cause to become bald.

pill

[ pil ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

verb (used with object)

Archaic.

to rob, plunder, or pillage.

pill

/ pɪl /

noun

a small spherical or ovoid mass of a medicinal substance, intended to be swallowed whole
the pill informal.
sometimes capital 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
1. to form into small balls
2. (of a fabric) to form small balls of fibre on its surface through rubbing
slang.
tr to blackball

pill

/ pɪl /

verb

archaic.
to peel or skin (something)
archaic.
to pillage or plunder (a place)
obsolete.
to make or become bald

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Word History and Origins

Origin of pill¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; Middle English pille, from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch pille, Old French pile, from Latin pilula “little ball, globule, pellet,” diminutive of pila “ball”; -ule

Origin of pill²

First recorded before 1100; Middle English pilen “to rob, steal, plunder,” Old English pilian “to skin, peel,” from Latin pilāre “to pluck, remove (hair or feathers)” pile ³

Origin of pill³

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English pile(n), pille(n), pilie(n), probably conflation of pill ² with Middle French piller, peler ( pillage )

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Word History and Origins

Origin of pill¹

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

Origin of pill²

Old English pilian, from Latin pilāre to strip

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

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

More idioms and phrases containing pill

see bitter pill to swallow ; sugar the pill .

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Example Sentences

"I came off the pill and that's when my periods became absolutely, completely unmanageable. They took over my life. I wasn't going to university, I wasn't going to work," Ami says.

From BBC

The light green pills, 5,000 in total and marked with an M, are packed tightly - a fraction of what Jay says he sells every week in LA and across the American northwest.

From BBC

She also admitted to witnessing a friend overdose and almost die from fentanyl before selling the fatal pill.

From Los Angeles Times

Detectives found a "suicide kit" in the family's Southampton home, containing various poisons and pills that Vlad had bought after joining the chat group.

From BBC

"The oral pill is still not available in prisons, online or in community pharmacy," he said.

From BBC

Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Pilipino pillage

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