# pill

Pronunciation: say "PIL" /pɪl/

## Noun

1. A small, usually round or cylindrical object made for easy swallowing, generally containing some kind of medication.
   - Simple: A small, round object you swallow that usually has medicine inside.
   - _Each pill should be taken with food to reduce stomach upset._
   - _The bottle contained thirty small white pills and a folded instruction sheet._
2. Contraceptive medication taken by a woman, usually as a daily oral tablet, to prevent pregnancy. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Medicine a woman takes, usually one tablet a day, to keep from getting pregnant.
   - _Her gynecologist suggested she stay on the pill for another year._
   - _After her second child, she stopped using the pill altogether._
3. Something offensive, unpleasant, or distasteful that must nonetheless be accepted or endured.
   - Simple: Something bad that you have to accept or deal with even though you don't like it.
   - _The pay cut was a pill nobody on the staff wanted to swallow._
   - _Apologizing in front of everyone was a pill she forced herself to take._
4. A medicinal object of solid construction, usually compressed bonded powder, rather than a capsule whose shell holds loose powder or liquid.
   - Simple: A solid medicine tablet made of pressed powder, not a capsule with a soft shell.
   - _The tablet is a firm pill instead of a gelatin capsule._
   - _Pharmacists press the powder into a solid pill rather than enclosing it in a capsule shell._
5. A small piece of any substance, especially a ball of fibers that forms on a fabric's surface through rubbing.
   - Simple: A tiny ball of fibers that forms on cloth when it rubs and wears.
   - _A single pill of lint clung stubbornly to the cuff of her sweater._
   - _Cheap knitwear often develops pills after only a few washes._
7. A contemptible, annoying, or thoroughly unpleasant person. *(slang)*
   - Simple: An annoying or unpleasant person who is hard to like or be around.
   - _The new manager turned out to be a pill, complaining about every little thing._
   - _Stop being a pill and help us clean up the kitchen._
10. A rounded rectangle holding a short text label that indicates the tag or category an item belongs to.
   - Simple: A small rounded shape on a screen that shows a label or category for something.
   - _The interface displays each active filter as a clickable pill._
   - _Designers grouped the status labels into colored pills along the header._
12. The small, hard ball that is pitched, batted, and fielded in a game of baseball. *(slang)*
   - Simple: The hard ball that players throw, hit, and catch in baseball.
   - _The shortstop scooped up the pill and threw across the diamond to first._
   - _Veteran pitchers know how to make the pill dance toward the plate._
13. A bullet; the metal projectile discharged from a firearm. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A bullet: the small metal piece fired from a gun.
   - _The gangster caught a pill in the leg and limped to cover._
   - _One stray pill shattered the saloon window above the bar._
14. An amusing or entertaining person; the sort who keeps a whole room laughing. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A funny person who makes other people laugh and have a good time.
   - _The host was a genuine pill, working the crowd with one joke after another._
   - _Everyone agreed the old sailor was a pill, full of tall tales and laughter._
18. A coastal inlet or small tidal creek; the term survives in several British place names for such spots. *(dialectal, UK)*
   - Simple: A small inlet, tidal pool, or bay along the coast.
   - _The fishing boats moored in the pill below the old chapel._
   - _At low tide the pill emptied into a stretch of glistening mud._

## Verb

6. Of a woven fabric surface, to form small, matted balls of fiber through wear or rubbing.
   - Simple: To form small balls of fuzz on the surface, as cloth does with wear.
   - _Wool blends often pill around the cuffs and collar within a season._
   - _This cheap fleece pills badly after just one wash._
8. To treat or dose with pills; to administer pills to someone or an animal.
   - Simple: To give someone pills as medicine.
   - _Owners often struggle to pill a reluctant dog._
   - _She pilled her elderly mother carefully, hiding each tablet in soft food._
9. To persuade or convince someone to accept or believe something.
   - Simple: To talk someone into believing or agreeing to something.
   - _The salesman pilled them into signing a long contract._
   - _Activists pill the public with simple, repeated slogans._
11. To shape or roll a substance into the form of a pill.
   - Simple: To roll or press something into the shape of a small pill.
   - _Apothecaries once pilled their remedies by rolling paste between two boards._
   - _Workers pill the compound before coating each finished dose._
16. To peel something; to prepare it by stripping off the outer skin.
   - Simple: To take the skin or peel off something.
   - _The cook pilled the oranges and arranged the segments on a plate._
   - _You pill the bark away to reach the soft wood beneath._
17. To peel off in flakes; to lose an outer layer in small pieces.
   - Simple: To come off in thin flakes, like skin or old paint.
   - _After the frost, the tree bark started to pill in long strips._
   - _The varnish had begun to pill, leaving the tabletop looking worn._

## Verb

15. To blackball someone; to cast a vote against admitting a prospective member to a club. *(dated, UK)*
   - Simple: To vote against letting someone join a club or group.
   - _The committee chose to pill the recruit after a heated debate._
   - _Old members would pill anyone who lacked the right connections._
19. To peel; to strip away the outer covering of hair, skin, or bark. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To strip off the outer layer of hair, skin, or bark.
   - _The cook pilled the tough skin from each root before the feast._
   - _Tanners pill the hair from a hide with lime and a blunt knife._
20. To pillage; to plunder and impoverish a people or place. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To rob a place or people of money and goods, leaving them poor.
   - _The marauding army pilled the countryside as it advanced toward the capital._
   - _Corrupt officials pill the poor through unjust taxes and seized harvests._

## Noun

21. The peel or outer skin of a fruit, vegetable, or tree. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The skin or peel on the outside of a fruit or plant.
   - _The recipe calls for a strip of candied orange pill._
   - _He dried the apple pills to make a fragrant winter tea._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–15** — From Middle English pille (also pillem), a borrowing from Middle Low German pille or Middle Dutch pille (source of Dutch pil), probably from Latin pila, pilula. The sense of persuading or convincing was generalized from red pill.
**Meanings 16–17, 19–21** — From Middle English pillen, pilen, from Old English pilian ("to peel"), from Latin pilō ("depilate"), from pilus ("hair"). It is a doublet of peel.
**Meaning 18** — From Middle English pill, from Old English pyll ("a pool, pill"), from Proto-Germanic *pullijaz ("small pool, ditch, creek"), a diminutive of *pullaz ("pool, stream"), from Proto-Indo-European *bl̥nos ("bog, marsh"). It is cognate with Old English pull ("pool, creek"), Scots poll, and Icelandic pollur ("pond, pool, puddle").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/pill (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).