See Also: Till(medicine)
till(encyclopedia)
till(6)(dictionary)
till(5)(dictionary)
till(4)(dictionary)
till(3)(dictionary)
till(2)(dictionary)
till(1)(dictionary)
Till(money)
till 2, noun(dictionary)

till(4) (iou)



till preposition & conjunction.
[Old English (Northumbrian) til preposition with dat. = Old Frisian til (with dat.), Old Norse til (with genit.); prob. from adverbial use of Germanic noun meaning 'aim, goal' (cf. TILL verb1) repr. by Old English till fixed point. Cf. UNTIL, UNTO.]
A. preposition.
To (expressing position, direction, relationship, etc.); as far as. Now only Scot. & north. OE.
T. Fuller He was..restored till his liberty and arch-bishoprick.
a. Onward to (a specified time); up to the time of (an event); during the time before. Freq. with adverb or adverbial phr. of time. ME.
C. Kingsley A plant till then unknown to me. J. Buchan I had not..heard his name till that afternoon.
b. Used in stating the time of day: to. US. M20.
H. Kurath In..the Midland..quarter till eleven is current.
Introducing an inf.: to. Now only Scot. ME.
Sir W. Scott An ye had wussed till hae been present.
After a neg.: before (a specified time). Cf. UNTIL preposition 5. L16.
Defoe [He] begged of me not to go on shore till day.
b. conjunction.
To the time that; up to the point when. Formerly also foll. by that. ME.
Spenser They traveiled..Till that at last they to a Castle came. V. Woolf We talked till I left at 8.
= UNTIL conjunction 2. ME.
Mrs H. Ward Bessie ran till she was out of breath.
During the time that; so long as; while. ME-E17.
After a neg.: before the time that; before; when. Cf. UNTIL conjunction 3. Now dial. & US. LME.
W. Lithgow Scarcely were wee well advanced in our way, till wee were beset with..three hundred Arabs.
In order that (one) may, so that. Scot. & Anglo-Irish. L19.
A. J. Cronin Come till I give ye a grand, big hug.
Phrases: till and frae (long obsolete exc. Scot.) to and fro. up till: see UP adverb1.