Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb Used to express refusal, denial, disbelief, emphasis, or disagreement.
  • adverb Not at all; not by any degree. Often used with the comparative.
  • adverb Not.
  • adverb Informal Used to indicate agreement with a preceding statement, especially when followed by a stronger judgment supporting that statement.
  • noun A negative response; a denial or refusal.
  • noun A negative vote or voter.
  • interjection Used to express strong refusal, doubt, or disbelief.
  • adjective Not any; not one; not a.
  • adjective Not at all; not close to being.
  • adjective Hardly any.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not any; not one; none.
  • No is used, like not in similar constructions, with a word of depreciation or diminution, to denote a certain degree of excellence, small or great according to circumstances.
  • Nor.
  • An abbreviation of not otherwise provided for.
  • Not ever; never; not at all; not.
  • Not so; nay; not: with implied, but not expressed, repetition of a preceding (or succeeding) statement denied or question answered in the negative, with change of person if necessary.
  • In answer to a request (expressed or anticipated): in this use often repeated for emphasis: as, no, no, do not ask me.
  • Used parenthetically in iteration of another negative.
  • Used continuatively, in iteration and amplification of a previous negative, expressed or understood.
  • Not: used after or, at the end of a sentence or clause, as the representative of an independent negative sentence or clause, the first clause being often introduced by whether or if: as, he is uncertain whether to accept it or no; he may take it or no, as he pleases.
  • See no. adverb
  • noun A denial; the word of denial.
  • noun A negative vote, or a person who votes in the negative: as, the noes have it.
  • Not in any degree; not at all; in no respect; not: used with a comparative: as, no longer: no shorter; no more; wo less.
  • An abbreviation of the Latin numero, ablative of numerus, number: used for English number, and so as a plural Nos.: as, No. 2, and Nos, 9 and 10.
  • noun In Japan, a sort of dignified operatic performance consisting of music and dancing, with recitation. The carved masks worn by the performers indicate the characters portrayed.
  • noun An abbreviation
  • noun of northern
  • noun In chem., the symbol for noriurn.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb Nay; not; not at all; not in any respect or degree; -- a word expressing negation, denial, or refusal. Before or after another negative, no is emphatic.
  • adjective Not any; not one; none; ; -- often used as a quantifier.
  • noun A refusal by use of the word no; a denial.
  • noun A negative vote; one who votes in the negative
  • noun abbreviated Number; -- the number designating place in an ordered sequence.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb Not.
  • adverb Not any, not at all.
  • preposition Used to show disagreement or negation.
  • preposition Used to show agreement with a negative question.
  • noun A negating expression; an answer that shows disagreement or disapproval.
  • noun A vote not in favor, or opposing a proposition.
  • determiner Not any.
  • determiner Not any possibility or allowance of (doing something).
  • determiner Not (a); not properly, not really; not fully.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb referring to the degree to which a certain quality is present
  • adjective quantifier; used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns for indicating a complete or almost complete lack or zero quantity of
  • adverb used to express refusal or denial or disagreement etc or especially to emphasize a negative statement
  • adverb not in any degree or manner; not at all
  • noun a radioactive transuranic element synthesized by bombarding curium with carbon ions; 7 isotopes are known
  • noun a negative
  • noun the number designating place in an ordered sequence

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English : ne, not; see ne in Indo-European roots + ā, ever; see aiw- in Indo-European roots.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, variant of non, from Old English nān, none : ne, not; see ne in Indo-European roots + ān, one; see one.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English no, na, from Old English ,  ("never"), from Proto-Germanic *nai (“never”), *nē (“not”), from Proto-Indo-European *ne, *nē, *nēy (negative particle), equivalent to Old English ne ("not") + ā, ō ("ever, always"). Cognate with West Frisian  ("no"), West Frisian nea ("never"), Dutch nee ("no"), Low German nee ("no"), German nie ("never"), Icelandic nei ("no"). More at nay.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English no, noo, na, a reduced form of none, noon, nan ("none, not any") used before consonants (compare a to an), from Old English nān ("none, not any"), from ne ("not") + ān ("one"), equivalent to ne (“not”) +‎ a. Compare Old Saxon nigēn ("not any") (Saxon/Low German nen), Dutch geen, Old High German nihein (German kein). More at no, one.

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Examples

Comments

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  • 'no' means well as in: Well, what do you mean then?

    June 27, 2007

  • What kind of negative place do you live in? :-)

    June 27, 2007

  • Finland. Shoo, negativity, shoo. *waving her hands frantically*

    June 27, 2007

  • Shoo as in scram?

    June 27, 2007

  • Same thing as far as I'm concerned. But remember, I'm a tourist. ;o}

    June 28, 2007

  • That is what shoo means here, too--my father used to shoo the barn cats regularly.

    June 28, 2007

  • No. Chemical element symbol for Nobelium.

    December 16, 2007

  • Like some baseball caps: on backwards. NYT crossword answer.

    March 26, 2008

  • Means no. It does not mean yes, or maybe.

    July 30, 2008