nought

Etymology

From Middle English nought, noght, noȝt, from Old English nōwiht, nāwiht (nay + a + wight), which in turn comes from ne-ā-wiht, which was a phrase used as an emphatic "no", meaning "not a thing". Eventually this was reduced into nought, nawt and then not. Doublet of naught.

noun

  1. Nothing; something which does not exist.
  2. A thing or person of no worth or value; nil.
  3. (UK) Not any quantity of number; zero; the score of no points in a game.
    0.4 — nought point four / zero point four
  4. (UK) The figure or character representing, or having the shape of, zero.

adj

  1. (obsolete) Good for nothing; worthless.
    It is nought, it is nought, saith the buyer, but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth. 1611, Authorized King James translation of Proverbs 20:14
  2. Wicked, immoral.

verb

  1. To abase, to set at nought.
    In this naked word sin, our Lord brought to my mind, generally, all that is not good, and the shameful despite and the utter noughting that He bare for us in this life, and His dying; and all the pains and passions of all His creatures, ghostly and bodily; (for we be all partly noughted, and we shall be noughted following our Master, Jesus, till we be full purged, that is to say, till we be fully noughted of our deadly flesh and of all our inward affections which are not very good;) 1393, Julian of Norwich, translated by Grace Warrack, Revelations of Divine Love, published 1901
    The nought which is you has devoured the style and been sustained for a while as a non-you until the style is emptied out by the noughting self. 1983, Walker Percy, Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book, page 25
    Your usefulness is zero, your worth zero, and as zero you deserve to be treated as nothing, and in the extreme, noughted. 2001, William Desmond, Ethics and the Between, page 507
    What is the use of noughting yourself? Who is noughting who? What is the use of searching for yourself? Who is searching for who? There are not two of you ! You cannot find yourself, or the absence of yourself. 2003, Wu Wei Wei, The Tenth Man: The Great Joke (which Made Lazarus Laugh), page 81

adv

  1. To no extent; in no way; not at all.
  2. Not.

pron

  1. Nothing; zero.

Attribution / Disclaimer All definitions come directly from Wiktionary using the Wiktextract library. We do not edit or curate the definitions for any words, if you feel the definition listed is incorrect or offensive please suggest modifications directly to the source (wiktionary/nought), any changes made to the source will update on this page periodically.