Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Nothing; in old English law, a corrupt form of the Latin nihil, used by a sheriff in making return that assets or debtors are worthless.
- In old English law, to make return, as sheriff, that a debt is worthless, either because the debtor cannot be found, or because of his inability to pay.
- To castrate.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Note 42: Gesta Treverorum continuatio IVa, ed.G. Waitz, MGH SS 24.369: "Plurimi eciam puerorum perierunt; nam qui euntibus copiose ministraverunt, redeuntibus nichil dederunt." back
A Tender Age: Cultural Anxieties over the Child in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries 2005
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Note 54: VW 1.5, p. 19: "… puerumque Willelmum epulantem et nichil fraudis prorsus metuentem subito rapiunt." back
A Tender Age: Cultural Anxieties over the Child in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries 2005
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Note 146: London, BL Harley 957, fol. 21r: "Cumque infundissent in os eius modicum quid seruisie suspirauit quasi euigilans a sompno, nichil tamen loquebatur, sed iacebat quasi dormiens in lecto." back
A Tender Age: Cultural Anxieties over the Child in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries 2005
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Paris to demonstrate that michi and nichil were incorrect.
The Age of Erasmus Lectures Delivered in the Universities of Oxford and London 1901
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In France, h between two short i's was considered to need support, and so we find michi, nichil, occurring quite regularly.
The Age of Erasmus Lectures Delivered in the Universities of Oxford and London 1901
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Ille vero nichil huius geñ maluit, manib ante ocul̃ paſſis ne mulier̃ formoſitate̅ adſpiceret: poſtea eu̅ m̃gica p̃cuſſit arte, at mortuu̅ efferebat i̅de cu̅ fletib̃ et vagitib̃, me p̃r timore̅ expulit ad oſtiu̅ m̃gni flumiñ veliuoli porro in nave in qua te peperi, uix poſt dies hvc
She Henry Rider Haggard 1890
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Ille vero nichil hujus generis malebat, manibus ante oculos passis, ne mulieris formositatem adspiceret: postea illum magica percussit arte, at mortuum efferebat inde cum fletibus et vagitibus, et me per timorem expulit ad ostium magni fluminis, velivoli, porro in nave, in qua te peperi, vix post dies huc Athenas vecta sum.
She Henry Rider Haggard 1890
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[186] "Dixit sibi quod non crederet in eum, quia nichil erat, et quod erat quidam falsus propheta, et nichil valebat; immo crederet in Deum
Secret Societies And Subversive Movements Nesta H. Webster 1918
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