Nay (?), 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No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request made, now superseded by no. 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.
⇒ 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.
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.
⇒ Nay in this sense may be interchanged with yea. "Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir."
Shak.
© Webster 1913.
Nay, n.; pl. Nays ().
1.
Denial; refusal.
2.
a negative vote; one who votes in the negative.
It is no nay, there is no denying it. [Obs.]
haucer.
© Webster 1913.
Nay, v. t. & i.
To refuse.
[Obs.]
Holinshed.
© Webster 1913.