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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

nay \nay\ (n[=a]), adv. [Icel. nei; akin to E. no. See {No},
adv.]
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made, now superseded by {no}.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}.
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And eke when I say "ye," ne say not "nay."
--Chaucer.
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I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all
likewise perish. --Luke xiii.
3.
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And now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily;
but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
--Acts xvi.
37.
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He that will not when he may,
When he would he shall have nay. --Old Prov.
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Note: Before the time of Henry VIII. nay was used to answer
simple questions, and no was used when the form of the
question involved a negative expression; nay was the
simple form, no the emphatic. --Skeat.
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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.
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Note: Nay in this sense may be interchanged with yea. "Were
he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir." --Shak.
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Nay \Nay\, n.; pl. {Nays}.
1. Denial; refusal.
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2. A negative vote; one who votes in the negative.
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{It is no nay}, there is no denying it. [Obs.] --haucer.
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Nay \Nay\, v. t. & i.
To refuse. [Obs.] --Holinshed.
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