nay

Etymology

From Middle English nai, nei, from Old Norse nei (“no”), contraction of ne (“not”) + ei (“ever”), itself from Proto-Germanic *nai (“never”), *nē (“not”). More at no.

adv

1. (now chiefly archaic, humorous or regional) No.
2. (now chiefly archaic or regional) Introducing a statement, without direct negation.
   Nay, what are you smiling at so damnably? 1876, Henry James, Roderick Hudson
3. (now archaic or humorous) Or rather, or should I say; moreover (introducing a stronger and more appropriate expression than the preceding one).
   His face was dirty, nay, filthy.
   […] And proved not only horse, but cows, / Nay pigs, were of the elder house: / For beasts, when man was but a piece / Of earth himself, did th' earth possess. 1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part 1, canto 2
   And even in our wildest and most wandering reveries, nay in our very dreams, we shall find, if we reflect, that the imagination ran not altogether at adventures, 1748, David Hume, chapter 18, in Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral, London: Oxford University Press, published 1973
   And all rejected: Has this course been used? Arch. We grant it has not; but— King. Nay, give me leave,— I urge, from your own grant, it has not been. If then, in process of a petty sum, Both parties having not been fully heard,[…] 2016-02-02, John Dryden, The works of John Dryden, Vol.7: Top English Literature (Top English Literature), VM eBooks

intj

1. (archaic) No.

noun

1. A vote against.
   I vote nay, even though the motion is popular, because I would rather be right than popular.
2. A person who voted against.
   The vote is 4 in favor and 20 opposed; the nays have it.
3. (archaic) A denial; a refusal.
   And my povert' no wight nor can nor may Make comparison, it is no nay. 14th c, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Clerk's Tale”, in D. Laing Purves, editor, The Canterbury Tales and Faerie Queene, with Other Poems of Chaucer and Spenser, published 1870, page 100

verb

1. (obsolete) To refuse.

adj

1. (obsolete) Nary.