- nought
- \ \ see NOT
Word origins - 2ed. J. Ayto. 2005.
nought
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nought — [no:t US no:t] number 1.) BrE the number 0 = ↑zero ▪ A billion is 1 with 9 noughts after it. nought point one/two/three etc (=0.1, 0.2 etc) 2.) old use used in some expressions to mean nothing ▪ Peace negotiations came to nought (=were not… … Dictionary of contemporary English
nought — (n.) O.E. nowiht nothing, variant of nawiht (see NAUGHT (Cf. naught)). Meaning zero, cipher is from early 15c. Expression for nought in vain is late 13c. To come to nought is from 1590s … Etymology dictionary
Nought — Nought, n. & adv. See {Naught}. Chaucer. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
nought — UK US /nɔːt/ noun [C] UK ► the number 0 or zero: »0.4% (nought point four percent) »He s got several noughts on the end of his salary … Financial and business terms
nought — index nonentity Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 … Law dictionary
nought — [ nɔt ] another spelling of naught … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
nought — ► NOUN ▪ the digit 0. ► PRONOUN variant spelling of NAUGHT(Cf. ↑naught). ● noughts and crosses Cf. ↑noughts and crosses … English terms dictionary
nought — [nôt] pron. [ME < OE nowiht < ne, not (see NO1) + owiht, awiht, AUGHT] nothing; naught n. 1. Arith. the figure zero (0) 2. alt. sp. of NAUGHT adj. Obs. NAUGHT … English World dictionary
nought — [[t]nɔ͟ːt[/t]] noughts (The spelling naught is also used for meaning 2.) 1) NUM Nought is the number 0. [mainly BRIT] Sales rose by nought point four per cent last month... Houses are graded from nought to ten for energy efficiency... When you… … English dictionary
nought — naught, nought Naught is an archaic or literary word meaning ‘nothing’ and it survives chiefly in phrases such as come to naught or set at naught. In BrE nought is the term for the digit 0 (zero in AmE). The game called noughts and crosses in BrE … Modern English usage
nought — 1. noun a) Nothing; something which does not exist. b) A thing or person of no worth or value; nil. 2. adjective Wicked, immoral … Wiktionary
