Search Result for "nil":
Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (1)
1. a quantity of no importance;
- Example: "it looked like nothing I had ever seen before"
- Example: "reduced to nil all the work we had done"
- Example: "we racked up a pathetic goose egg"
- Example: "it was all for naught"
- Example: "I didn't hear zilch about it"
[syn: nothing, nil, nix, nada, null, aught, cipher, cypher, goose egg, naught, zero, zilch, zip, zippo]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Nil \Nil\ [See Nill, v. t.] Will not. [Obs.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Nil \Nil\, n. & a. [L., a contr. of nihil.] Nothing; of no account; worthless; -- a term often used for canceling, in accounts or bookkeeping. --A. J. Ellis. [1913 Webster]The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Nil \Nil\, n. (computers) A special value for a variable used in certain computer languages to mean no assigned value, to be distinguished from the value zero. [PJC]Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003):
NIL /nil/ No. Used in reply to a question, particularly one asked using the `-P' convention. Most hackers assume this derives simply from LISP terminology for `false' (see also T), but NIL as a negative reply was well-established among radio hams decades before the advent of LISP. The historical connection between early hackerdom and the ham radio world was strong enough that this may have been an influence.
