D defs.my
Entry 5 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

nay

/(nā)/ · IPA /neɪ/
01 adv. No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request made, now superseded by no. Opposed to aye or yea. See also Yes.
  1. 1.
    No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request made, now superseded by no. Opposed to aye or yea. See also Yes. Also: no See: Yes
    “And eke when I say “ye,” ne say not “nay.”” Chaucer.
    “I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” — Luke xiii. 3.
    “And now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.” — Acts xvi. 37.
    “He that will not when he may, When he would he shall have nay.” — Old Prov.
  2. 2.
    Not this merely, but also; not only so, but; -- used to mark the addition or substitution of a more explicit or more emphatic phrase.
02 n. Denial; refusal.
pl. Nays
  1. 1.
    Denial; refusal.
  2. 2.
    A negative vote; one who votes in the negative.
Phrases & compounds
It is no nay — there is no denying it.
03 v. t. & i. To refuse.
  1. 1.
    To refuse.[Obs.]