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till

UK/tɪl/ US/ˈtɪl/ very common uk
noun (3) verb (1)

noun

1.

unstratified soil deposited by a glacier; consists of sand and clay and gravel and boulders mixed together

Synonyms
2.
3.

verb

1.

work land as by ploughing, harrowing, and manuring, in order to make it ready for cultivation

  • “till the soil”

Origin

From Middle English til, from Northern Old English til, from or akin to Old Norse til (“to, till”); both from Proto-Germanic *til (“to, toward”), from Proto-Germanic *tilą (“planned point in time”). Not a contraction of until; rather, until comes from till with the prefix un- (“against; toward; up to”) also found in unto. Cognate with Old Frisian til (“to, till”), Danish til (“to”), Swedish till (“to, till”), Icelandic til (“to, till”). Also related to Old English til (“good”), German Ziel (“goal”), Gothic 𐍄𐌹𐌻 (til, “something fitting or suitable”).

Phrases

  • cast not a clout till May be out
  • don't knock it till you've tried it
  • don't sell the skin till you have caught the bear
  • fake it till one makes it
  • glacial till
  • have one's fingers in the till
  • have one's hand in the till
  • it ain't over till it's over
  • it ain't over till the fat lady sings
  • it isn't over till the fat lady sings
  • ne'er cast a clout till May be out
  • till money

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.