nought

English

Alternative forms

• naught,nowt

Etymology

FromMiddle Englishnought,noght,noȝt,fromOld Englishnōwiht,nāwiht,which in turn comes fromne-ā-wiht,which was a phrase used as an emphatic "no", meaning "not anything".Equivalent tone+‎oughtorne+‎a+‎wight.Doubletofnaughtandnot.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/nɔːt/
• Rhymes:-ɔːt

• Audio(US):

  (file)

Noun

nought(pluralnoughts)

1. Nothing;something which does notexist.
   • 1886October –1887January,H[enry] Rider Haggard,She: A History of Adventure,London:Longmans, Green, and Co.,published1887,→OCLC:

     "It is the truth;naughthave I hidden from thee, Kallikrates. "

2. A thing or person of noworthorvalue;nil.
3. (UK,Ireland,Commonwealth)Not anyquantityofnumber;zero;the score of nopointsin a game.

   0.4 —noughtpoint four / zero point four

4. (UK,Ireland,Commonwealth)Thefigureorcharacterrepresenting, or having the shape of,zero.

Derived terms

• all for nought
• bring to nought
• come to nought
• dreadnought
• more often than nought
• noughties
• noughty
• set at nought

Translations

zero

• Bulgarian:нула(bg)f(nula)
• Catalan:zero(ca)m
• Dutch:nul(nl)
• Esperanto:nul(eo)
• Estonian:null(et)
• Finnish:nolla(fi)
• French:zéro(fr)
• Galician:cero(gl)m,ren(gl),res(gl)
• German:null(de)
• Italian:zero(it)
• Middle English:nought
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:null(no)morn

  Nynorsk:nullmorn

• Russian:ноль(ru)m(nolʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic:neonimorf
• Spanish:cero(es)m

Adjective

nought

1. (obsolete)Good for nothing;worthless.
   • 1611,Authorized King Jamestranslation ofProverbs20:14:

     It isnought,it isnought,saith the buyer, but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.

2. Wicked,immoral.

Verb

nought(third-person singular simple presentnoughts,present participlenoughting,simple past and past participlenoughted)

1. Toabase,to set at nought.
   • 1393,Julian of Norwich,translated by Grace Warrack,Revelations of Divine Love,published1901:

     In this naked word sin, our Lord brought to my mind, generally, all that is not good, and the shameful despite and the utternoughtingthat 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 partlynoughted,and we shall benoughtedfollowing our Master, Jesus, till we be full purged, that is to say, till we be fullynoughtedof our deadly flesh and of all our inward affections which are not very good;)

   • 1983,Walker Percy,Lost in the Cosmos:The Last Self-Help Book,page25:

     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 thenoughtingself.

   • 2001,William Desmond,Ethics and the Between,page507:

     Your usefulness is zero, your worth zero, and as zero you deserve to be treated as nothing, and in the extreme,noughted.

   • 2003,Wu Wei Wei,The Tenth Man: The Great Joke (which Made Lazarus Laugh),→ISBN,page81:

     What is the use ofnoughtingyourself? Who isnoughtingwho? 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.

Adverb

nought

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

Pronoun

nought

1. Nothing; zero.

See also

• naught
• ought

References

• “nought”,inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary,Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
• Notes:

Anagrams

• hognut,hotgun,hutong

Middle English

Alternative forms

• naȝt,naught,nauȝt,nawght,nawȝt,nofte,noght,nogt,nogthe,noȝt,noth,noughte,noughtt,nouȝt,nouȝte,nouȝth,nouȝthe,nouht,noust,nout,nouth,nowght,nowȝt,nowhte,nowt
• naht,naut,nawiht,nohht,noht(Early Middle English)

Etymology

FromOld Englishnāwiht,nōwiht,fromProto-West Germanic*naiwwiht;equivalent tone+‎ought.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/nɔu̯xt/,/nau̯xt/,/nɔxt/,/naxt/

Pronoun

nought

1. nothing,none

Descendants

• English:nought,naught,nowt
• Scots:nocht,nowt
• Yola:noucht

References

• “nought,pron.”,inMED Online,Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.

Adverb

nought

1. not(negates the accompanying verb)

   Þei ne bileveden hirenought.―Theydidn'tbelieve her.

2. not(to no degree, extent, or way)

   Þou artnoughtweyke.―You aren'tweak.

Descendants

• English:nought,naught,nowt

References

• “nought,adv.”,inMED Online,Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.

Adjective

nought

1. iniquitous,wicked
2. valueless,worthless
3. ineffectual,depleted
4. powerless,useless
5. null and void,invalid
6. (rare)unfitting,improper

Descendants

• English:nought,naught
• Scots:nocht

References

• “nought,adj.”,inMED Online,Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.

Noun

nought(uncountable)

1. nothing,nought
2. nothingness,void
3. (rare)evil,iniquity
4. (rare)That which isworthless
5. (rare)zero(number)

Descendants

• English:nought,naught,nowt
• Scots:nocht

References

• “nought,pron.”,inMED Online,Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.
• “nought,n.”,inMED Online,Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.

Conjunction

nought

1. andnot

References

• “nought,adv.”,inMED Online,Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.