† notv.
Obsolete.
transitive. To clip or cut short (the hair or a beard); to clip or cut short the hair of (a person).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > beautify (the hair) [verb (transitive)] > cut
shearc897
shavec1320
topc1330
dockc1386
clipc1405
pollc1450
roundc1450
coll1483
cow?1507
not1530
trim1530
tonse1555
benotte1594
decurtate1599
scissora1625
to set upa1625
tonsure1793
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 645/1 I have notted my heed nowe that sommer is come.
1541 in Hist. MSS Comm.: MSS Duke of Rutland (1905) IV. 313 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 2606) LXIII. 301 To Mr. Markham, barber, for nottyng my Lordes children, ij s.
1563 J. Foxe Actes & Monuments 1078/2 Nowe was hys head notted euil fauourably, and clypped muche lyke as a man woulde clippe a fooles head.
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Tondeo They notted their fathers head and bearde.
1567 A. Golding tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) x. f. 138 His Barber who Was woont to notte him spyed it.
1592 J. Stow Annales (1631) 570 Hee caused..from thence forth his beard to be notted and no more shauen.
1606 P. Holland tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars 19 He would not onely be notted & shaven very precisely, but also have his haire plucked.
1673 J. Ray S. & E. Countrey Words in Coll. Eng. Words 73 To Not: and Notted: i.e. polled, shorn. Essex. [Also in later dictionaries.]
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
notadv.n.int.
/nɒt/, U.S. /nɑt/α. Middle English note, Middle English nut, Middle English–1500s notte, Middle English–1600s nott, Middle English– not; English regional (Yorkshire) 1900s– nut.
β. 1600s– n't Brit. /(ə)nt/, U.S. /(ə)nt/.
γ. regional and nonstandard 1700s– 'n, 1800s n, 1800s– n' Brit. /(ə)n/, U.S. /(ə)n/.
A. adv. The ordinary adverb of negation, or negative particle.
I. Negating verbs.Not frequently modifies the verb when it logically negates another element, especially a universal expression such as all, always, every (and its compounds), etc. (see e.g. quot. ?a1439 at sense A. 2aα. ).
1. Preceding a simple tense or form of a verb. Now usually (chiefly North American) with a subjunctive verb in a subordinate clause.Relatively common in 15th-cent. texts; subsequently often poetic.In quot. 1816 the speaker is German.
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1299 in C. A. Markham Rec. Borough Northampton (1898) I. 420 (MED) Thei ben quyte of..ȝeresȝeue and of Scotage, So that the Reue of Norht. or any other Bailif not make non Scotage.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) 16538 (MED) To be done in tresorie, þei seide hit not mouȝt.
c1425 (c1400) Laud Troy-bk. 3092 (MED) Whan Troyens dede this trespas, Menelaus at home not was.
c1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Katherine (Arun. 396) (1893) 289 (MED) Defende your-selue, though he wyth yow not yede.
a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington) (1965) 148 (MED) Þe king was welny wood Whanne he sawe þe werke not stood.
1532 Romaunt Rose in Wks. G. Chaucer f. cxlviv/2 Fro him to withdrawe your presence..hath do to him great offence That ye not wolde vpon him se.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III i. ii. 236 On me [Richard] whose all not equals Edwards moity. View more context for this quotation
1608 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iv. 98 (Sauing Henoch) onely He not-dies.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) ii. i. 128 I not doubt He came aliue to Land. View more context for this quotation
1682 T. Otway Venice Preserv'd iv. 42 If I not revenge With..unstaying fury, Thy sufferings.
1740 S. Johnson Drake in Gentleman's Mag. Oct. 510 They..possessed the Island, but not enjoyed it.
1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 39 The cups that cheer but not inebriate.
1816 W. Scott Antiquary II. ii. 48 My little secret..—you sall forgife me that I not tell that.
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess vii. 156 To live and learn and be All that not harms distinctive womanhood.
1853 C. Norton in Times 2 Sept. 8/1 His own passionate entreaty that I not ‘crush’ but ‘forgive him’.
1897 F. Thompson New Poems 110 The earth not pæans thee, nor serves thy host.
1897 B. Stoker Dracula x. 120 Better he not know as yet; perhaps he shall never know.
1948 Christian Sci. Monitor 10 Dec. 6 They have encouraged this exchange, lest Soviet production demands not be satisfied.
1978 J. Carroll Mortal Friends i. iv. 46 It's better you not know.
1992 PC Computing Mar. 169/3 The system may recommend that you not defragment your drive again.
2000 Time 22 May 44/2 McCain quickly asked that he not be considered.
2.
a. Following to be. Also in the reduced form n't, usually written as one word with the verb.
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α.
β. 1639 J. Mayne Citye Match iii. iii. 30 Arn't you Ashamd to make me such a Monster?1648 T. Stephens tr. Statius Thebais ii. 58 This is n't the Trieterick night, in use Among your Country-men.1661 S. Pordage Mundorum Explicatio ii. 160 Is't not a crime for to desert such Gemms? Isn't he a Fool that such things disesteems?1691 Athenian Gaz. 11 May If I amn't mistaken, the pinch is here.1701 G. Farquhar Sir Harry Wildair iv. ii. 34 I an't to be believ'd.a1703 J. Pomfret Cruelty & Lust (1724) 70 Since in Battle you can greater be, That over, be'nt less merciful than he.1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham II. xxv. 260 A'n't we behind hand?1888 W. D. Howells Annie Kilburn xi. 133 I presume she isn't very happily married; he's too old.1924 N. Coward Specially for You in B. Day N. Coward: Compl. Lyrics (1998) 70/2 It's as well you aren't a shy man.1990 Savvy Woman May 61/1 I wrote one-liners that weren't funny.a1300 (c1250) Floris & Blauncheflur (Vitell.) (1966) 132 Ȝe, forsoþe, heo is not h[ere].
1348 in C. Welch Hist. Pewterers of London (1902) I. 4 The vew of night is not so profitable ne certen as is of the day to the commen profit.
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. ix. 75 Ho..is not dronkeleuh ne deynous Dowel him foleweþ.
c1425 (c1400) Laud Troy-bk. 6856 (MED) We are not worth a scnayle A-ȝeyn that man that ȝonde fyghtes.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) iv. 2944 (MED) Al is not gold that shyneth briht.
1475 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 485 Iff the markett be nott goode yit I hope jt shall be better.
a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 134 (MED) Consolacions are not as mannes talkinges or confabulacions.
1526 C. Mery Talys iii. f. iv By this tale ye may se that it is not wysdome for a man to be rulyd alway after hys wyues councell.
1576 T. Achelley tr. M. Bandello Most Lamentable & Tragicall Hist. sig. Bvii The wound is not past cure, my dart Hath launcte as great a sore.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) ii. ii. 198 I am transformed Master, am I not ? View more context for this quotation
1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 181. ⁋2 At which Time I was not quite Five Years of Age.
1791 E. Burke Corr. (1844) III. 282 This is not the cause of a king, but of kings.
1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights II. ix. 197 I'm older than he is, you know, and wiser—less childish, am I not?
1899 W. H. S. Monck Introd. Stellar Astron. v. 93 The proper motion of the Solar stars is probably not less than double that of the Sirians of the same magnitude.
1940 H. L. Mencken Diary 9 June (1989) 149 There is not a really first-rate editorial writer on the staff.
2001 Big Issue 30 July 45/2 The majority of civil servants are not graduates.
b. colloquial. In a copular sentence with the complement preceding the subject, for ironic emphasis.
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1986 R. Sproat Stunning the Punters 140 Alf's a tasty geezer in a bundle on account of being so fast and together and built like a rhino, but bright he ain't.
1992 Time 21 Dec. 16/2 Tarawa it was not.
2000 New Scientist 25 Mar. 100/3 Poetic it isn't.
3. Following a full verb. Now chiefly archaic or literary and humorous.In recent use, esp. in I kid you not and variants.F. T. Visser ( Hist. Syntax Eng. Lang. (1969) III. §1441) observes that from the beginning of the modern English period certain verbs tended to continue to be used in this construction rather than the do not construction, the main ones being care, doubt, know, mistake, trow, and wot.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [adverb] > not
neeOE
noughteOE
naughteOE
noeOE
nayc1175
notc1330
nata1350
nit1894
c1330 in T. Wright Polit. Songs Eng. (1839) 330 (MED) I wot not eysiere lyf than is religioun.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 56 (MED) Huanne þe glotoun geþ in to þe tauerne, ha geþ opriȝt; huanne he comþ a-yen, he ne heþ not þet him moȝe sostyeni.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) 3 Kings xviii. 25 Inwardli clepeþ þe names of ȝoure goddis, & putteþ not vndir fijr.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. 2198 So that here kinges yhe is blent And wot not hou the world is went.
1431 in J. B. Paul Registrum Magni Sigilli Scotorum (1882) II. 45/1 That thai distroble not the sayd Patrik.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) iv. 120 They wyst not what folke they were.
1531 W. Tyndale Answere Mores Dialoge f. xliijv As longe as the significacion bode, it hurted not.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. i. sig. A7 With holy father sits not with such thinges to mell.
1630 Bp. J. Hall Olde Relig. (ed. 3) Advt. to Rdr. 192 I differ not from the Iudgement of our best..classical Diuines.
1789 Triumphs Fortitude I. 101 I doubt not but they will greatly contribute [etc.].
1798 S. T. Coleridge Anc. Marinere iv, in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 21 Fear not, fear not, thou wedding guest! This body dropt not down.
1821 Ld. Byron Sardanapalus iv. i. 131 I seek..no pleasure but in parting not.
1852 L. E. Stuart Let. 17 Dec. in R. Stuart et al. Stuart Lett. (1961) I. 447 It is a handsome edifice, and I doubt not Bishop McCoskry will feel ‘as fine as a fiddle’ when he is ensconced in it.
1880 T. Hardy Fellow-townsmen vi. 47 The clock struck one, two; still his wife came not.
1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xlii. 200 ‘Fear not, madam,’ he said heavily. ‘I have passed the age when I am tempted by forty-five and gratitude.’
1951 H. Wouk Caine Mutiny xiii. 153 I kid you not.
1991 D. Lucie Fashion (rev. ed.) ii. ii, in Fashion, Progress, Hard Feelings, Doing the Business 61 Fret not, hen. I've been engaged on important business.
1993 New Scientist 17 July 80/2 But scoff ye not. The book's findings ‘have been given worldwide backing by an international research team’.
2000 Front Oct. 59/1 The victim was taken away in an ambulance five minutes later. I shit you not!
4. Following an auxiliary verb (and to have whether auxiliary or not). Also in the reduced form n't, (regional and nonstandard) -n', usually written as one word with the verb.For its use with do as the normal negative construction, see further do v. 32f, 32e, and Forms 5c(ii).
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α.
β. 1619 J. Vicars tr. J. Owen Epigrams sig. C8 Oft haue I heard both Yong and Old complaine, That Loue & Life do n't Long-enough remaine.1619 J. Vicars tr. J. Owen Epigrams sig. G4 Men, th' Axeltree doe Greaze, that they may n't screake.1639 G. Chapman & J. Shirley Trag. Chabot iii. sig. Dv Adm. Come don't weepe. Wife. My Lord, I doe not grive out of a thought [etc.].1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 130 They can't strike sail..in a trice.1739 H. Baker & J. Miller tr. Molière Cheats of Scapin i. vi, in Wks. X. 205 Scapin. Trifles? Argante. You mustn't call it Trifles.1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 149 The 'squire wouldn't hare of a pursecution.1834 M. Edgeworth Helen III. v. 100 ‘No no, I can't sit, can't stay,’ said Lady Cecilia.1852 W. M. Thackeray Henry Esmond III. ii. 56 That was..one [duty] that she wouldn't have broke her heart in trying to do.1895 G. Gissing Eve's Ransom 110 You mustn't tell me anything.1951 ‘N. Shute’ Round Bend iv. 139 I didn't think you'd be home, so I only got three kippers.2000 M. Beaumont e 28 They haven't spoken since they split up.γ. 1703 J. Oldmixon Governour of Cyprus iii. 23 As Guilty as she is, you coud'n hurt Her By seeing in her Looks her Brother's Likeness.a1794 M. Palmer Dialogue Devonshire Dial. (1837) 6 I did'n care if the old tantarabobs had'n.1864 Ld. Tennyson Northern Farmer: Old Style xvii, in Enoch Arden, etc. 136 What atta stannin' theer for, an' doesn bring ma the yaäle?1881 G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk. Suppl. at To-bost If it freezes we sha'n 'ave it to-bost like the tother.1897 B. Stoker Dracula vi. 69 Don't ye fash about them as lies under ye, or that doesn' lie there either!1925 W. Cather Professor's House ii. iii. 199 We were carried down-stream a little by the current, but I didn' have to slide off his back.1943 M. Harrison Reported Safe Arrival 52 I wouldn' be surprised if you both done a stretch fer knockin' orf some ole bloke's tom-foolery.1961 E. Partridge Adventuring among Words xii. 58 Gorblimey, 'e's an iron, did'n yeh know?1990 M. Collins Rain Darling 13 If I say this child doesn' annoy me, I lie.?c1350 in Neuphilol. Mitteilungen (1959) 60 287 Y may not liue, y nam but lore, hureloue to lenun & y ne may.
J. Gaytryge Lay Folks' Catech. (York Min.) (1901) 54 Of ought elles That mai noght be lifted ne raised fro the ground, Als thing that is stedefast and mai not be stirred.
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Luke x. 42 The beste part, which schal not be take a wey fro hir.
1417 in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1827) 2nd Ser. I. 61 (MED) The mony..doth not suffice to paye so much unto the soldiors as is likly to mayntayne your warrs.
?c1430 (?1383) J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 324 (MED) Whanne þe fend dare not dere a just man.
a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 181 (MED) He cowd not don hys owyn esement to gon to a sege, er ellys he wolde not, but as a childe voydyd his natural digestyon in hys lynyn clothys.
a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) i. 63 (MED) Þat her gifte sholde not be reuokyd a-geine, she strengthid hit with her writinge & with her seele.
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xxxiv. 22 Þai sall not ouercum þaim.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin 243 (MED) He nys no knyght that will not deffende his londe.
1508 W. Kennedy Flyting (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems W. Dunbar (1998) I. 214 Thou may not pas Mount Barnard for wilde bestis.
1577 W. Fulke Answer True Christian 25 in Two Treat. against Papistes You can not proue that your church hath canonized the Apostles.
a1593 C. Marlowe Edward II (1594) sig. H1v You haue the note, haue you not?
1620 T. Shelton tr. M. de Cervantes Don Quixote ii. xxv. 166 Ile not giue a farthing to know what is past.
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler iv. 108 The line should not exceed..three or four haires. View more context for this quotation
1710 Ld. Shaftesbury Soliloquy 74 The Arts and Sciences must not be left Patron-less.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. xiv. 134 His presence did not interrupt our conversation.
1820 J. Keats Eve of St. Agnes in Lamia & Other Poems 102 Though I have found, I will not rob thy nest.
1884 tr. H. Lotze Logic 323 The act of severance has not produced any lasting..excitement.
1902 J. Conrad Heart of Darkness iii, in Youth 165 ‘Do you understand this?’ I asked..‘Do I not?’ he said slowly.
1966 E. Amadi Concubine xii. 94 Please come..otherwise my children and I may not survive another moon.
1991 Farmers Weekly (BNC) 26 June 25 They dare not risk being caught again.
2001 P. Ball Bright Earth v. 134 To retain its strong, deep blue colour, smalt must not be ground too finely.
5. Preceding a non-finite verb.
a. With an infinitive.
(a) With to-infinitive, in general uses.Use of not between to and a following verb, discountenanced as a particularly noticeable form of the split infinitive during the 19th and 20th centuries, is now commonly found in U.S. English, and less commonly elsewhere.
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a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) 3 Esd. ii. 20 Þat þat is don aboute þe temple to han riȝtli, wee han demed to not dispisen þat same thing.
a1425 Rev. Methodius in J. Trevisa Dialogus Militem et Clericum (1925) 96 (MED) Myche malice bigan to wexe wors þan þe raþere vppon erþe, which of vs is to be dispised & not to be seide.
c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1904) I. 135 To ly in his bed & not com att matyns.
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 87 To not moght; nequire, non posse.
1578 J. Rolland Seuin Seages 278 Seir diuers thochts yat neids not to be schawin.
1582 N. Lichefield tr. F. L. de Castanheda 1st Bk. Hist. Discouerie E. Indias 128 He praied him not to say him nay.
1673 J. Ray Observ. Journey Low-countries 159 It seldom happens the Council-chamber not to be full.
1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 8 I knew neither what to do, or what not to do.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 175. ⁋9 It is, indeed, impossible not to hear..of wrongs and falsehoods.
1853 E. C. Gaskell Cranford ix Miss Pole clutched my arm, and begged me not to turn.
1929 D. Hammett Red Harvest i. 10 He considered it his duty to get the low-down on me, and to not let himself be pumped about radical affairs while he was doing it.
1991 B. Okri Famished Road (1992) v. iv. 341 He told Dad and Mum to be kinder to me, to not shout, not beat, not restrict me, to not quarrel amongst themselves.
2002 New Republic 14 Jan. 42/3 A business paper..pleaded with the IMF not to give Argentina any more loans.
(b) With bare infinitive, esp. in a double negative construction with a preceding negative modal verb.
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a1640 W. Fenner Hidden Manna (1652) 62 A wicked man doth not, not repent, because hee cannot but because he will not.
1656 tr. T. White Peripateticall Inst. iv. viii. 227 He that knows a thing exists knows that it does not not-exist.
1869 A. Trollope Phineas Finn xlv I have not come to talk about myself—otherwise than to bid you not do what I have done.
1890 J. H. Stirling Gifford Lect. xvi. 318 The very thought of God is of that which is, and cannot not-be.
1903 H. James Ambassadors xvi. 216 You can't in honor not see him.
1968 T. Stoppard Real Inspector Hound iii. 78 You can't not-be on a boat.
1989 in R. Graef Talking Blues x. 326 When it came down to it I couldn't not nick him.
2002 Sawubona (S. Afr. Airways In-flight Mag.) July 92/1 You can't not pay these guys when they arrive hysterical and it's not their fault.
(c) colloquial. not to ——: do not ——. Webster's Dict. Eng. Usage (1989) 670–1 noted the uncommonness of the phrase not to worry in American English, and its disapproval by some commentators, but U.S. examples are not uncommon from the later 1980s onwards.In early use preceded by please (see please v. 6d).
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1790 T. Holcroft German Hotel ii. 17 Rum. So early! Will. In less than an hour; make haste. Rum. Please not to be in a hurry.
1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch II. iv. xxxvii. 258 And he objects to a secretary: please not to mention that again.
1958 Daily Mail 24 July 6/5 Not to worry. By the time he..had finished with me..I'd be doing long division.
1965 L. Meynell Double Fault i. iii. 31 ‘We'll send it for you.’ ‘Not to bother. I'm going down to the country this evening.’
1995 G. Drabinsky Closer to Sun xviii. 363 Vineberg said, ‘Not to worry. It's a lead-pipe cinch.’
b. With a participial clause.
ΚΠ
c1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game (Vesp. B.xii) (1904) 62 (MED) His chynne shuld be a litel hie..þe hoghes streight and not crompyng.
1596 B. Griffin Fidessa xxxvii. sig. D3 Whil'st I..doe sit in heauie plight.., Not daring rush into so rare a place.
1654 R. Boreman Triumph of Faith Ep. Ded. Men (not rancord with envy) usually love in others what they see in themselves.
1710 Boston News-let. 5 June 2/2 The Enemy perceiving, & not knowing their strength, made away after them.
1732 G. Berkeley Serm. to Soc. Propagation Gospel in Wks. (1871) III. 245 A mind not hardened by impenitency.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 42 Men in charge of droves..pursued the old and rugged road, not caring to use the swifter, costlier trainage.
1995 A. Warner Morvern Callar (1996) 201 Two silent older men were moving chess bits across a glass table top, not needing a board.
c. With a gerundial clause.
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c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 398 Y..am stille in not reclaymyng aȝens the trust neither aȝens the ȝifte.
a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 43 (MED) Al our pes in þis wrecchid lif is raþer to be sette in meke suffryng þan in not feling contrarietes.
1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione Courtyer i. sig. E.iiiiv He that shoulde write, I would thinke he committed an errour in not vsing them.
1639 H. Ainsworth Annot. Five Bks. Moses, Bk. Psalmes & Song of Songs 44 They failed in not casting out the inhabitants.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. viii. vi. 182 Danger might attend the not Dressing his Wound. View more context for this quotation
1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) I. 368 If the tenant..were likely to be prejudiced by not being named, this objection would have weight.
1931 ‘B. Starke’ Touch & Go xvi. 259 Dick praised me for not saying anything.
1996 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 9 May 56/4 Semmelweiss, who demonstrated how doctors spread puerperal fever by not washing their hands.
6. With other negative words.† b. After verbs of forbidding, dissuading, or preventing. Obsolete.
a. Coupled with negative determiners, pronouns, or adverbs. Now chiefly colloquial (nonstandard).
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a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) Isaiah xxxiii. 8 He heeld of no pris not men.
c1426 J. Audelay Poems (1931) 10 (MED) Þai nold not on us haue no pete.
1443–4 in W. Hudson Rec. City of Norwich (1906) I. 114 It is not clrely expressed in noon of ye Chartrs of ye seid Cie yt they should haue Court of pipouders.
?1504 S. Hawes Example of Vertu sig. aa.v I wyll not medle with no duplycyte.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 739 They should not neede no more to feare him then his shadowe.
1606 P. Holland tr. Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars 105 Hee absented not himselfe in no place.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. i. 24 Rauenna, which for antiquity will not bow her top to none in Italy.
1697 tr. Countess D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 79 He..had not lost nothing of whatever made me heretofore fancy him too Lovely.
1779 H. Cowley Who's the Dupe? ii. 24 No, no, I'll not have no English—What a plague! every Shoe-black jabbers English—so give us a touch of Greek to set off with.
1793 C. Smith Old Manor House I. vi. 130 My wife I believe thought, that..there would not be no offence whatsumdever in dressing our poor girls..a little dessent and neat.
1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede xxxviii. 441 Not no young woman like Hetty had been seen there.
1885 Ld. Tennyson Spinster's Sweet-arts xiii, in Wks. (1907–8) 275 I niver not wish'd fur childer.
1932 W. Faulkner Light in August xviii. 408 I got something on the string now that means money. Not no little piddling fifteen cents a hour.
1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven i. 24 I don't want to have you tell no lies, Jack.
1993 D. Coyle Hardball iv. iii. 173 Y'all might not never even win another game.
ΚΠ
?c1430 (c1400) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 106 (MED) Þei forbeden not vtterly þat men schulden not preche þe gospel.
?c1550 tr. P. Vergil Three Bks. Eng. Hist. (1844) xxiv. 118 The earle had diswadyd the king not to place his syster Margaret in maryage unto Charles.
1569 J. Sanford tr. H. C. Agrippa Of Vanitie Artes & Sci. 81 A lawe whiche did forbidde that they shoulde not woorshippe images.
1677 R. Gilpin Dæmonol. Sacra iii. xvii. 140 Contrary to other plain Scriptures prohibiting not to tempt the Lord.
1684 B. Keach Progress of Sin i. 8 Memory, who before continually put the Soul in mind of all things God had commanded her to do; and whatsoever he had prohibited or enjoyned her not to do.
7. With verb (or verb and other clause elements) implied or understood.
a. After or, if, or as, with all the words expressed or implied in the preceding clause understood.
ΚΠ
1420 in Facsimiles National MSS (1865) I. 39 (MED) How that ye wolde that my cosine of York shuld Reule her, whether she shuld be barbid or not.
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 52 (MED) A prest, weþer he be beneficid or not, he howiþ not to sett to hire his gostly warks.
1503 Star Chamber Proc. in Trans. Royal Hist. Soc. (1902) 16 152 Ye knowe whether ye maye truste me or not.
1560 Bible (Geneva) Dan. iii. 18 Our God..wil deliuer vs... But if not, be it knowen to thee, o King, yt we wil not serue thy gods.
1651 T. Hobbes Philos. Rudim. vii. §3. 112 If he..Rule well..they afford him the appellation of a King; if not, they count him a Tyrant.
1720 D. Defoe Mem. Cavalier 132 Shall we give Battle..or not?
1738 A. Pope Universal Prayer xii. 7 Thou know'st if best bestow'd, or not.
1857 M. Arnold Rugby Chapel 45 Conscious or not of the past.
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) I. 290 If virtue is of such a nature, it will be taught; and if not, not.
1887 F. M. Crawford Saracinesca III. xxxiv. 299 I would just as soon give you up to the Holy Office as not.
1951 F. O'Connor Let. 23 Nov. in Habit of Being (1980) 29 I suppose it is not set up and if not, I would like to do some more.
1995 G. Drabinsky Closer to Sun vi. 130 You only know if it's a hit (or not) when you test the complete film at a screening.
b. With the verb to be understood, esp. after if, or in replies.
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a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington) (1965) 3422 (MED) Þer ben many yles in the see..Somme ben enhabited men wiþ-al, And some not ne neuere shal.
c1475 (c1399) Mum & Sothsegger (Cambr. Ll.4.14) (1936) iii. 151 Þey..beggith and borwith..And not þe better of a bene.
1562 G. Legh Accedens of Armory 84 b L. This I take to be two halfe Lions. G.: Not so it is but one Lion.
1592 A. Fraunce 3rd Pt. Countesse of Pembrokes Yuychurch f. 26 Take some care in time of poore Proserpina, think her If not mine, yet thine, and if thine, not to be stollen.
1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 971 Fame if not double-fac't is double-mouth'd. View more context for this quotation
1740 G. Cheyne Ess. Regimen 311 Body and Spirit..will eternally be disparata, if not contradictory.
1829 S. Coleridge Poet. Wks. (ed. 2) II. 133 Catherine. Well, Sir: you have said quite enough to make me despair of finding a ‘John Anderson’. Friend. Not so! Good men are not, I trust, so much scarcer than good women.
1864–8 R. Browning James Lee's Wife iv. iv No Love! not so indeed!
1883 A. Thomas Mod. Housewife 143 ‘Not to be done!’ Mrs. Sampson said decidedly.
1954 W. Lewis Self Condemned xvii. 236 She selected four kidneys..for the evening meal, and two Idaho potatoes—or if not Idahoes they were almost as large.
1991 R. Davies Murther & Walking Spirits v. 239 Couldn't he sniff that Llewellyn Thomas was unsound, if not actually a crook?
c. With subordinate clause understood after verbs of thought or utterance or (with non-referential it) verbs of seeming: in response to a question, in contradiction of a statement, or in agreement with a negative statement.
ΚΠ
1568 E. Tilney Flower of Friendshippe 16 I trust, quoth the Lady Aloisa, that those men were not so kinde harted, as to be buried with their wyfes... I thinke not, quoth Maister Pedro.
1606 G. Chapman Gentleman Vsher iv. sig. F Cyn. O Doctor, ist a deadly hurt? Ben. I hope not Madam.
1611 B. Jonson Catiline iv. sig. L2v Are they any Schollers?.. I thinke not, Madame.
1669 J. Fletcher Island Princess iv. iv Governour. And with scorne, I feare, contempt too. King. I hope not.
1755 B. Franklin Dialogue between X, Y, & Z 18 Dec. in Papers (1963) VI. 300 Y. Can it be right in the Legislature by any Act to delegate their Power of making Laws to others? X. I believe not, generally.
1813 J. Austen Pride & Prejudice I. vi. 57 ‘I can guess the subject of your reverie.’ ‘I should imagine not.’
1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre II. i. 15 ‘And this beautiful and accomplished lady is not yet married?’ ‘It appears not.’
1873 A. Trollope Eustace Diamonds I. xiv. 191 ‘Neither your brother nor I will go to church.’ ‘Nor—Lady Eustace?’ ‘It seems not,’ said Lady Fawn.
1907 E. P. Oppenheim Secret ix. 57 ‘She is coming back, of course!’ ‘The chambermaid thought not, sir.’
1951 Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 452/1 Is this fashionable fad a good thing? Physicians say not.
1973 ‘C. Aird’ His Burial Too ii. 28 Your father always puts it in the book... I've never known him not.
1992 C. Barker Imajica (BNC) 116 Was it Pie'oh'pah he'd been expecting? It seemed not.
d. Standing for the whole of a negative question, in replies.
ΚΠ
1630 P. Massinger Picture sig. C3v Eubulus. Haue you ne're read The story of Semiramis and Ninus? Honoria. Not as I remember.
1679 A. Behn Feign'd Curtizans iv. i. 46 Pet. I'le fetch a light and put you to bed in the meantime. Tick. Not before supper I hope honest Barberachio!
1772–4 R. Warner & B. Thornton Discovery v. ii. 172 Epi. Don't you then know me? Tel. Not as I recollect.
1867 G. Meredith Vittoria III. xxxix. 120 ‘Carlo Ammiani will marry her, I presume,’ said Lena. ‘Not before he has met Captain Weisspriess.’
1937 H. Jennings et al. May 12th Mass-observ. Day-surv. ii. 387 ‘I forgot to ask you if you were going to buy any lard to-day.’ ‘No, I don't want it.’ ‘Not even after this morning's drop?’
1999 M. Weiss Slow Tango in South Seattle in Best of Frasier 66 Roz. Would you calm down? Frasier. Not until I have exacted my pound of flesh.
e. colloquial. In interrogative with the remainder of the clause understood, as an emphatically positive response to a question.
ΚΠ
1906 R. Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill 147 ‘Did you have a governess, then?’ ‘Did we not? A Greek too.’
1918 C. Mackenzie Early Life Sylvia Scarlett ii. vii. 450 ‘Do you remember a man called Leopold Hansberg?’ ‘Do I not?’ Sylvia exclaimed.
1936 M. Allingham Flowers for Judge iv. 74 ‘I suppose they've been questioning you?’.. ‘Have they not!’ Mike spoke explosively.
II. Negating other syntactic elements.† 9. not but: = nobbut adv. Obsolete.For other forms of sentence in which not is followed by but, see but conj. 1b, 1c, 5b, 9, 10a.
8. Preceding a sentence, clause, or word.
a. Placed first for the sake of emphasis or logical clarity.
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a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. xxix. 22 Not now shal be confoundid Jacob.
Remonstr. against Romish Corruptions (Titus) (1851) 141 (MED) Not he is more rightful which is grettere in onour, but he that is rightfullere is the more.
a1425 Dialogue Reason & Adversity (Cambr.) (1968) 9 (MED) Not alwey þe fader strokes his sones heued, but wanne he findeþ him fawty rebukiþ him with a scourryng.
a1555 J. Philpot tr. C. S. Curione Def. Authority Christ's Church in R. Eden Exam. & Writings J. Philpot (1842) (modernized text) 384 Not for this we bring in a church like to thilk city of Plato.
1578 T. Timme tr. J. Calvin Comm. Gen. 180 Not they are called righteous, which are perfect in each point.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iii. 26 Yet not the more Cease I to wander. View more context for this quotation
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 108 Nor cou'd his Kindred..change his fatal Course. No, not the dying Maid. View more context for this quotation
1747 P. Francis tr. Horace Epist. i. xvii Not every one shall reach the wisht-for port.
1804 Dr. Parr in J. Bentham Wks. (1843) X. 417 Not so doth Godwin and his French followers.
1885 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche i. xiii. 6 Not long, I wot, shall that poor girl of Crete God it in my despite.
1922 F. P. Grove Over Prairie Trails 106 Not even in broad daylight could you see the opposite houses or trees.
1995 N.Y. Times 24 Jan. c8/3 Not everyone wants to be a publisher.
b. In introductory phrases, as not but (that), not that, †not for-thy, etc.: see the second element. See also but conj. 10a.
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c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) John vi. 59 Not as ȝoure fadris eeten manna and ben deed.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) xii. 224 Yet not for thy thei may endure in colde.
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xxxiv. 22 Not forthi thai takyn with eghen as thai lufid me.
1593 B. Barnes Parthenophil & Parthenophe 67 Not that I prosper worse Then earst of yoare, for I the state inherite.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) iii. ii. 21 Not that I lou'd Cæsar lesse, but that I lou'd Rome more. View more context for this quotation
1679 J. Dryden & N. Lee Oedipus iv. 57 Not but you were adorn'd with all the Riches That Empire could bestow.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. i. 4 Not but that we sometimes had those little rubs [etc.].
1785 W. Cowper Task vi. 981 Not that he peevishly rejects a mode Because that World adopts it.
1856 F. E. Paget Owlet of Owlstone Edge 52 Not but what I consider discretion to be the better part of valour.
1864 G. Meredith Emilia in Eng. II. v. 79 Not that she conceived him designedly base.
1937 D. L. Sayers Busman's Honeymoon vii. 164 Not but what it'll be a kind of busman's holiday for you.
1998 M. Waites Little Triggers (1999) v. 42 It was later than he had expected. Not that he had anywhere to go.
c. In contrast with a following but.
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c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Luke viii. 52 Sothli the damysele is not deed but slepith.
a1400 in T. Wright & J. O. Halliwell Reliquiæ Antiquæ (1845) I. 54 (MED) Not onliche in bred a man liueþ, but in eueri word þat comeþ of Godis mouþ.
?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 196 (MED) Nott only be bred mannys lyff ȝitt stood, but in þe wurde of god.
1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. 1 Pet. iv. f. xii Let him that hath substaunce..bestowe vnto them that haue nede, not grudgingly, nether with murmuryng, but gladly and chearefully.
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. July 115 The hylls..I reverence and adore: Not for themselfe, but for the sayncts [etc.].
1611 Bible (King James) John i. 13 Which were borne, not of blood,..but of God. View more context for this quotation
1635 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Donzella Desterrada 148 Discovering what it not hid but vailed.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 5 I resolv'd not to think of going abroad any more, but to settle at home.
1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued II. 460 I may believe myself—not a perceptivity but a perceptive spirit.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vi. 104 To use their arms in defence, not of the mass book, but of the Bible.
1874 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. 1st Ser. 302 He has peopled not a country town, but a metropolis.
1939 A. M. Lindbergh Diary 6 June in War within & Without (1980) 12 They are happy, though it is not the happiness of ecstasy, but, rather, the happiness of security.
2001 GQ Nov. 224/1 Scorsese would insist it was not a period gangster film but rather a sort of urban Western.
d. Emphasizing a pronoun after a negative statement, or in a reply.The pronoun was originally always in the subjective case, but now also occurs in the objective.
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1570 Mariage Witte & Sci. iv. iv. sig. Divv Idleness. But wotste thou whye? Ignoraunce. Nay bumfaye mother not I.
c1582 Long Meg of Westminster i. 3 He desired her for God's sake, to hold her hand.—Not I, she said.
1596 Knacke to know Honest Man sig. Dsv Luc: Why dydst thou know the man? Sem: O no, not I, for I am penitent Experience.
?c1640 W. Rowley et al. Witch of Edmonton (1658) iv. i. 132 He is no Witch, not he.
1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 257 I Challenge you, Sir, said I, not I, I made no Challenge.
1783 W. Beckford Dreams viii. 51 They had no notion, not they, of admiring barren crags and precipices.
1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility III. ii. 44 ‘You were all in the same room together, were not you?’ ‘No, indeed, not us.’
1846 C. Dickens Battle of Life i. 14 ‘Did you never hear..?’ ‘No, father!’ ‘No, not you, of course; you're a woman.’
1889 J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat xvii. 275 They are not to be ‘had’ by a bit of worm on the end of a hook,..not they!
1932 W. Faulkner Light in August xvi. 366 ‘He dont need any help,’ he thinks. ‘Not him.’
1997 Fiddlehead Summer 77 ‘Want to try some?’ ‘Not me!’ I exclaimed.
e. British. not the ——: an introductory formula used humorously in the titles of publications, etc., to qualify the name of something that is being parodied or satirized.Chiefly in allusion to the British television comedy programme Not the Nine O'Clock News (see quot. 1979).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > a cause of laughter [phrase] > introductory formula which parodies
not the ——1979
1979 Daily Tel. 18 Oct. 15/8 The postponement of Not The Nine O'Clock News (BBC-2) earlier in the year because of the General Election would seem to suggest that the BBC is over sensitive about sensitivities of politicians.
1981 Not the Church Times 22 Sept. 1/2 We apologise for the statement in last week's edition of Not The Church Times that the Archbishop of Canterbury was a Methodist. This was wrong.
1984 T. Hepburn (title) Not the 1984 Olympics.
1991 Independent 16 Dec. 23/2 Not the Nuclear Family... A four-parter broadcast daily, focuses on families which do not conform to the conventional stereotype.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > state or quality of being simple, unmixed, or uncompounded > simple or unmixed [phrase] > simply, merely, or nothing but
not buta1382
but only1478
in simple1548
tout court1747
tout simple1930
tout simplement1939
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) Kings ix. 35 Whan þei weren gon þat þei birien hir, þei founden not but þe sculle & th.e feet & gobetis of þe hond.
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 64 Betwene þat mount & the cytee is not but the vale of Iosaphath.
c1450 (c1385) G. Chaucer Complaint of Mars 121 Not but two pas within the yate hit stode.
c1450 (a1400) Chevalere Assigne 243 in W. H. French & C. B. Hale Middle Eng. Metrical Romances (1930) 868 (MED) I am but lytull and ȝonge..Not but twelfe ȝere olde.
1477 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Hist. Jason (1913) 17 All his desir is not but for to mowe come to your goode grace.
1575 J. Rolland Treat. Court Venus ii. f. 34v Quhair I gat not bot ansueir detestine.
c1610 Christmas Prince (1922) 145 Tuesday [loq.]..Bouzer I am not but mild, sober Tuesday..if I light not on St Hews-day.
10.
a. With adverbs or adverbial phrases.Frequently negating phrases with negative or near-negative sense, so as to imply the affirmative; cf. sense A. 10b.
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c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Rom. xiii. 4 If thou doist yuel thing, drede thou, for not withoute cause he berith the swerd.
a1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game (Digby) 78 He shal alway answere by euen and not by odde.
1475 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 482 The Enperore hathe besegyd also, not ferre from thense, a castell.
c1500 Melusine (1895) 297 And whan Raymondyn perceyued it, wete it wel that he was ryght dolaunt and sorowful & not without cause.
1559 J. Aylmer Harborowe sig. B1 Happening therfore not long agone to rede a lytle booke.
1608 B. Jonson Descr. Masque Visct. Haddington 25 in Characters Two Royall Masques The place, from whence (as I haue beene, not fabulously, informed) the..Radcliffes..tooke their name.
a1648 Ld. Herbert Life Henry VIII (1649) 341 Not long after which..the King sent George Bolen.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 296 His method is still, and not without reason, adopted by many.
a1834 S. T. Coleridge Lit. Remains (1836) I. 167 The titles of the poet..and the general not seldom formed a garland round the same head.
1852 Ld. Tennyson Ode Wellington viii Not once or twice..The path of duty was the way to glory.
1924 A. D. H. Smith Porto Bello Gold i. 11 His widow died not long afterward.
1956 M. Swan Paradise Garden 11 The strong colours and the angularity of the forms were almost comically not-at-home with the two eighteenth-century engravings.
1999 S. Rushdie Ground beneath her Feet (2000) ix. 275 Listen, Mowgli, he says, not without aggression, you're our fucking guest here.
b. With negative adjectives or adverbs, implying the affirmative term.
ΚΠ
1436 in Hist. MSS Comm.: Rep. MSS Var. Coll. (1907) IV. 199 in Parl. Papers 1906 (Cd. 3218) LXIV. 1 The grete good that sithen hav falle..to Us and alle oure sugectis of the same, ys not unknowen.
a1535 T. More Hist. Richard III in Wks. (1557) 37/1 Hee came into the worlde with the feete forwarde,..and (as the fame runneth) also not vntothed.
1591 Troublesome Raigne Iohn i. sig. A4v My Father (not vnknowen vnto your Grace).
1657 W. Rand tr. P. Gassendi Mirrour of Nobility i. 69 The study of antiquity was not unusefull towards the knowledge of the Lawes.
1663 R. Boyle Some Considerations Usefulnesse Exper. Nat. Philos. i. 15 And I have..made in that admirable Stone a not-inconsiderable Experiment.
1671 H. M. tr. Erasmus Colloquies 85 We say well and elegantly, not ungrateful, for very grateful.
1762 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. ii. xvi. 271 The damage done by this is not inconsiderable.
1794 Earl of Malmesbury Diaries & Corr. III. 117 Not unclever but importunate.
1846 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. in Wks. I. 195/1 Perhaps the learned author..was not undelighted with the pleasurable vices of poetry in such company.
1900 G. C. Brodrick Mem. & Impressions 168 A certain air of dignity, not unmingled with insolence.
1925 Cent. Mag. Jan. 407/2 Not ungently they laid hold of the missionary.
1989 T. Bodett End of Road ii. xiv. 146 Ruby pushed the papers out of her face and said not unkindly, ‘Put a lid on it, Frank.’
c. Placed before an adjective postmodifying a preceding noun or pronoun.
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c1490 in F. B. Bickley Little Red Bk. Bristol (1900) II. 128 (MED) Many of the Crafte and occupacion of Weuers daily..put in occupacion of the seid Crafte Straungiers, Allions, and othour not born vnder the Kynges obeisaunce.
1529 Will of Thomas Cromwell in R. B. Merriman Life & Lett. T. Cromwell (1902) I. 63 The residue of all my goodes catalles and debttes not bequethed.
1614 R. Tailor Hogge hath lost Pearle in I. Reed Dodsley's Sel. Coll. Old Plays (1780) VI. 408 Where penitency, not disturb'd may grieve.
1724 J. Henley et al. tr. Pliny the Younger Epist. & Panegyrick I. i. v. 11 Regulus is a Man, not easy to be overthrown.
1823 C. Lamb Christ's Hosp. in Elia 34 The remnants left at his table (not many, nor very choice fragments).
1844 A. W. Kinglake Eothen xii. 186 I rose from a state of half-oblivion, not much unlike to sleep.
1889 J. K. Jerome Idle Thoughts 112 You have got to be regarded as not quite right in your head.
1969 H. Brodkey in New Yorker 25 Jan. 26/1 I became the victim, a witless servitor, not clever, and unable to get the best of any bargain.
11. In expressions relating to number or quantity.
a. With a or one (as an adjective).Frequently in exaggerating or figurative expressions. Cf. bit n.2 and adj.2 Phrases 2b(a), jot n.1, scrap n.1 2.
ΚΠ
c1390 Pistel of Swete Susan (Vernon) 246 (MED) I charge hit not a pere.
c1400 (?c1380) Pearl 343 For anger gayneȝ þe not a cresse.
c1400 (?c1380) Pearl 351 (MED) Þy mendez mountez not a myte.
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 451 Povert... That not a peny hadde in wolde.
1477 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Hist. Jason (1913) 55 He..spack not one worde but if he were demanded or araisonned.
a1500 (c1400) St. Erkenwald (1977) 319 (MED) As longe as I myȝt lacche water, And cast upon þi faire cors, and carpe þes wordes..and not one grue lenger.
1584 King James VI & I Ess. Prentise Poesie sig. Iiiijv Sen though they stay, it harmes him not a hair.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iv. ii. 65 Ho. I perceiue you delight not in Musique. Iu. Not a whit. View more context for this quotation
1637 J. Milton Comus 20 Not a period Shall be unsaid for me.
1663 S. Butler Hudibras: First Pt. i. i. 2 Not a man of them knew wherefore.
1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 41 He spoke not a Word.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. xviii. 194 I have known a piece, with not one jest in the whole, shrugged into popularity.
1817 C. Wolfe Burial Sir J. Moore in Edinb. Monthly Mag. June 277/2 Not a drum was heard, nor a funeral note.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. x. 599 He solemnly assured them that not a hair of their heads should be touched.
1916 W. S. Churchill Let. 22 Feb. in W. S. Churchill & C. S. Churchill Speaking for Themselves (1999) vii. 179 We had a quiet day yesterday—not a shell came near us.
1991 J. Diski Happily ever After ix. 106 Not one surface was free of a burden of displaced matter: piles of dirty clothes, magazines, [etc.].
b. With phrases denoting a quantity, period of time, etc.: less than (used esp. to indicate a surprisingly small quantity).not half: see half adv. Phrases 2a.
ΚΠ
c1390 in F. J. Furnivall Minor Poems Vernon MS (1901) ii. 496 (MED) Serteynliche, wiþ-outen fayle, Þou schalt not leose of þi trauayle Not half a foote of way.
c1400 (?c1380) Pearl 483 (MED) Þou lyfed not two ȝer in oure þede.
?1504 S. Hawes Example of Vertu sig. ee.v A lytell brydge Not halfe so brode as a hous rydge.
a1572 J. Knox Hist. Reformation Scotl. in Wks. (1846) I. 223 Nott two payre of boot lenthis.
1588 R. Greene Pandosto sig. Fv The shippe lay..not three quarters of a mile distant from that place.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) i. ii. 20 I was bred and borne Not three houres trauaile from this very place. View more context for this quotation
1633 P. Massinger New Way to pay Old Debts i. iii. sig. C2v There came not six dayes since from Hull, a pipe Of rich Canarie.
1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. vi. 371 Not sixty of the Kings Donees had sons owning their fathers estates.
1736 H. Fielding Pasquin i. 1 I have a Part in both too; I wish any one else had them, for they are not seven Lengths put together.
1824 Lancet 2 Oct. 426/2 The fetus was not three months old.
1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South II. x. 116 How could he have lulled himself into the unsuspicious calm in which her tearful image had mirrored itself not two hours before.
1940 Amer. Boy Feb. 15/2 The brakes went on not ten feet from him.
1996 Entertainm. Weekly 19 Jan. 54/1 The new year is not two weeks old as I write this.
c. not a little: a good deal, considerably.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > to a considerable degree
welleOE
not a little1485
prettily1533
sensibly1563
pretty1565
considerably1673
considerablea1706
significantly1747
respectably1770
purty1797
appreciably1815
pooty1825
right smart1859
helder1883
sumfin1918
sumptin1924
sumthin1925
a1450 (a1396) W. Hilton Eight Chapters on Perfection 8 (MED) He erriþ not a litil but myche.]
1485 W. Caxton tr. Lyf St. Wenefryde 24 The couent..dredde not a lytell that the ornamentes and munymentis shold be sore hurte by the fallyng of the rayne.
a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 253 (MED) He was not a litle mevid.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry IV f. xxiiii He not a littell mused but muche more meruailed that the duke [etc.].
1599 E. Ford Parismenos xxiiii. 188 I am glad you haue met your knight, of whose companie I am sure you are not a little glad.
1655 Ld. Orrery Parthenissa 24 This insolence did not a little offend me.
1712 A. Pope in Spectator No. 408. Young Men whose Passions are not a little unruly.
1762 T. Smollett Adventures Sir Launcelot Greaves I. viii. 163 The other highwayman, who was not a little disturbed at sight of such an apparition.
1838 in G. O. Trevelyan Macaulay (1876) II. vii. 2 His visits served not a little to enliven.
1895 G. Allen Woman who Did iv. 49 He was flattered not a little that this leader among women should have picked him out for herself among the ranks of men.
1927 Travel Nov. 34/2 Both Governors were interested and not a little dubious over my project for taking moving pictures.
1992 B. Gill Death of Love x. 139 She sounded not a little cheered by the prospect.
d. not at all:
(a) not in any way, by no means.
ΚΠ
1515 Everyman sig. C3 Game lyketh me not at all.
1567 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure II. xxv. f. 237v Then she sayde vnto him: Father, doubt not at all that my heart shall faile in performance of your commaundement.
1659 R. Brathwait Panthalia 15 My captivity does not at all afflict me.
1704 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion III. xv. 458 By breaking their Fortunes and Estates, he had not at all broken their Spirits.
1793 Ann. Agric. 19 299 Is the small pox known among sheep? It is a little known, but not at all common.
1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede I. i. vii. 150 It was not at all a distressed blush, for it was inwreathed with smiles.
1921 J. M. Keynes Treat. Probability xxviii. 336 The ‘Law of Great Numbers’ is not at all a good name for the principle which underlies Statistical Induction.
2000 ‘Bidisha’ Too Fast to Live 10 Alun's looking magic tonight—not at all bad for fifty-something.
(b) = don't mention it at mention v. Phrases 1d.
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1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) v. 37 ‘I'm sorry to give you so much trouble, Towlinson.’.. ‘Not at all, Miss.’
1914 J. Joyce Dubliners (1956) 153 ‘It's very kind of you to bring him home,’ she said. ‘Not at all,’ said Mr Power.
1963 ‘E. McBain’ Ten Plus One vii. 88 ‘Well, thank you,’ Carella said. ‘Not at all. My pleasure,’ Richardson answered.
1973 J. Burrows Like Evening Gone i. 13 She..pretty well knocked him flying... ‘So sorry.’ ‘Not at all.’
Categories »
e. not (all) that: see that adv. 2b.
12. Denoting contrast or opposition to what precedes, with or without and.
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a1400 in T. Wright & J. O. Halliwell Reliquiæ Antiquæ (1845) I. 127 (MED) He cursede þe fige tre þat hadde feire leuis and not fruyt.
c1425 Concordance Wycliffite Bible in Speculum (1968) 43 273 (MED) Where a chapitre spekiþ miche of a mater, þanne is sumtyme shortly quotyd þe sentence & not þe wordis.
c1490 in F. B. Bickley Little Red Bk. Bristol (1900) II. 130 Punyshing the principall sturrers of rebellion ayenst vs and not a generalte.
1552 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16280.5) Administr. Lordes Supper (Declar. on Kneeling) sig. O.iv Thei are in heauen, and not here.
1581 J. Marbeck Bk. Notes & Common Places 1075 Wee be commaunded to occupie our Lords money, and not to hide it.
1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII iii. i. 157 We are to Cure such sorrowes, not to sowe 'em. View more context for this quotation
1649 J. Milton Εικονοκλαστης iv. 36 Some..of thir Friends, and in the Roman not the pettifogging sense, thir Clients.
1678 T. Shadwell Hist. Timon v. 86 They govern for themselves and not the People.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall (1869) II. xxxvi. 318 Buffoons and pantomimes are sometimes introduced, to divert, not to offend, the company.
1837 J. H. Newman Parochial Serm. (ed. 2) III. x. 148 It was a respite, not a resurrection.
1892 Ld. Tennyson Doubt & Prayer 12 Till this.., My prison, not my fortress, fall away!
1940 Estiator Aug. 13/2 It's the sizzle that sells the steak and not the cow.
1990 F. Dannen Hit Men (1991) x. 183 It was a job for a lawyer, not a promotion man.
B. n.† 1. Nought, nothing. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > non-existence > [noun] > nothing
nothingOE
nota1425
nichila1513
nowhat1530
zeroa1703
nuffin1837
nuttin'1852
nada1867
bupkis1937
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 94 (MED) He haþ drede of þing of not.
c1430 N. Love Mirror Blessed Life (Brasenose e.9) (1908) 92 It was nouȝt for not that they tauȝten..hem [etc.].
?c1430 (c1400) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 216 Þe lord þat made alle þingis of not.
?c1450 tr. Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry (1906) 9 (MED) The housholde yede to not.
a1500 (a1400) Sir Cleges (Adv.) (1930) 352 (MED) For my labor schall i nott get.
1508 W. Kennedy Flyting (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems W. Dunbar (1998) I. 217 Tak the a fidill..thou art ordanyt to not ellis.
1575 J. Rolland Treat. Court Venus ii. f. 34v Thair got I not, bot bad me sone pas hine, Unto the nine Nobillis of excellence.
1603 Philotus xxii. sig. Bv All for ȝour weiring and not ellis.
2. An instance of the word ‘not’; a negation or negative.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > negation > [noun] > utterance or instance of
nayc1390
non1551
no1598
not1608
1608 H. Clapham Errour Left Hand 82 They still doe returne us a not.
a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) iii. ii. 22 I haue wedded her, not bedded her, and sworne to make the not eternall. View more context for this quotation
1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania 420 Come backe to me, who neuer knew the plot To crosse your minde, or to thy will an nott.
1867 J. R. Lowell Biglow Papers 2nd Ser. (new ed.) Introd. p. l I guess ef I was to leave the nots out o' some o' the co'man'ments, 't 'ould soot you full ez wal!
1871 G. MacDonald At Back of North Wind xii. 128 These three nots together are enough to make a lady very ill indeed.
1960 Ess. in Crit. 10 259 There are 6 ‘noes’ or ‘nots’ in the first 4 sentences.
1986 S. Orbach Hunger Strike v. 107 An ever-spiralling code of nots and denial ensues.
3. [Short for not finished, pressed, rolled, etc., in reference to the manufacturing process of the paper.] A type of drawing paper with a moderately rough surface, neither coarsely made nor highly finished; the surface or finish of such paper, usually achieved by cold pressing.
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1859 Stationer's Hand-bk. 23 There are three different varieties [of drawing papers] as regards the degree of finish of the surface; first, that made with a coarse highly granulated surface, termed ‘Rough’; next, that made in the ordinary way, but left without the usual finishing or rolling on its surface, termed ‘Not’, meaning not finished.
1893 J. Kay Paper App. 86 There are three recognized varieties of finish or surface for hand-made drawing papers, viz.: ‘Not’, that is, neither rough nor smooth; ‘Hot Pressed’, which is very smooth; and ‘Rough’.
1926 Paper Terminol. 18 Not, the rough unglazed surface of drawing papers not highly pressed.
1940 Chambers' Techn. Dict. 583/2 Not, the unglazed, rough surface of drawing-papers which have not been highly pressed.
1988 Artist's & Illustrator's Mag. Feb. 14/3 (advt.) A series of watercolour blocks..are available in two different surface textures: not and rough.
4. Logic and Computing. Frequently in form NOT. The ‘not’ function or operator (see Compounds 2a).
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society > computing and information technology > [noun] > logic > operation > particular operations
and1946
OR1947
negation1949
inversion1955
NOR1957
NAND1958
NOT AND1960
XOR1961
not1969
1969 P. B. Jordain Condensed Computer Encycl. 341 not is a unary operation since it has only one argument, and it is one of the most fundamental logic operators.
1970 A. Chandor et al. Dict. Computers 270 Not, a logical operator with the property that if a condition p is true, then the not of p is false, and if p is false then the not of p is true.
1993 Macworld Dec. 169/1 Boolean operators—AND, OR, and NOT—and proximity operators are useful for zeroing in on text.
C. int.
colloquial. [perhaps influenced by nit adv. (see J. T. Sheidlower and J. E. Lighter in Amer. Speech (1993) 68 213–8). In later use, popularized by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey in the ‘Wayne's World’ sketches on the NBC television programme Saturday Night Live from 1989, and especially by the spin-off film Wayne's World in 1992.] Used humorously following a statement to indicate that it should not be taken seriously (usually because the idea expressed is untrue or unlikely to happen), or sarcastically to negate a statement made immediately before. Cf. I don't think at think v.2 11a(c).
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1860 ‘G. Eliot’ Mill on Floss III. vi. vi. 90 She would make a sweet, strange, troublesome, adorable wife to some man or other, but he would never have chosen her himself. Did she feel as he did? He hoped she did—not.]
1888 Cincinnati Times-Star 26 July 2/2 Of course ‘White Wings’ was mourned because he was hissed. Yes he did—not!!!
1893 Princeton Tiger 30 Mar. 103 An Historical Parallel—Not.
1900 G. Ade More Fables 80 Probably they preferred to go back to the Front Room and hear some more about Woman's Destiny not.
1905 E. P. Butler Pigs is Pigs in Amer. Illustr. Mag. Sept. 499 Oh, yes! ‘Mister Morehouse, two an' a quarter, plaze.’ ‘Cert'nly, me dear frind Flannery. Delighted!’ Not!
1950 R. Stout In Best Families vii. 73 The cop..called, ‘Pull over to the curb.’ Flattered at the attention as any motorist would be, not, I obeyed.
1975 E. Wilson Twenties 323 Held up by cyclone at South Amboy—‘wicked little boy who kept jeering at us, “You'll get there tonight—not!”’
1991 M. Myers et al. Wayne's World (film script) (O.E.D. Archive) 89 Well, I'm having a good time so far..not. It sucks baby Rhino.
2000 F. Walker in J. Adams et al. Girls' Night In 48 Vizza revelled in increasingly outlandish exclusives, revealing his broken heart. Yeah. Like he knew how it felt—not.
Compounds
C1. Compounds in which not has the function of a simple negative.† d. With adverbs. Obsolete. rare.
a. † (b) With other nouns expressing the action of a verb. Obsolete.Common in 17th cent.; now usually expressed by non-.
(a) With verbal nouns.
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1539 T. Wyatt Let. 16 Dec. in Life & Lett. (1963) 108 Your lettres both to tone and tother off thes princes shold be made requiring off the tone the delyuery and of the tother the not supportyng.
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. i. iii. f. 3v If the not knowing [L. ignorantia] of God be any where to be founde.
1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. xvi. 300 Goodnes is not a defect or a notdooing of things.
1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iii. iii. 260 Heele answer no body: hee professes not answering. View more context for this quotation
1652 T. Gataker Antinomianism 25 The not drowning of the whole world again.
1695 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. III. ii. 50 The Difference of the Idiom was sufficient to beget a not-understanding of one another.
1709 G. Berkeley Theory of Vision xxxix The not considering of this has been a fundamental and perplexing oversight.
1816 Ld. Byron Let. 20 Feb. (1976) V. 29 You must not mistake my not bullying for dejection.
1858 H. W. Beecher & E. D. Proctor Life Thoughts 212 His rests and not-doings seem even more significant..than that which was overt.
1992 E. Pearce Election Rides xi. 112 In remote places some things haven't changed, and the not-changing has got into politics.
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1581 in Acts Privy Council (1896) XIII. 41 It was ordered..that all the Recusantes which heertofore had bene committed..for not conformitie in matters of Religion should..bee released.
1590 in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1881) 1st Ser. IV. 521 For not-payment of ministeris stipendis.
1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII iv. i. 29 For not Appearance, and The Kings late Scruple,..she was diuorc'd. View more context for this quotation
1643 D. Digges Unlawfulnesse Subj. iv. 102 [They] redeemed their not obedience to him, by offering up their bodies.
1697 Burnett Family Papers in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (at cited word) I declaire the not delyverie hereof shall be no cause of nullity.
(c) With agent nouns. Now rare.Now usually expressed by non-.
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1596 E. Spenser Hymne in Honour of Loue in Fowre Hymnes 7 How falles it then that..Thou doest afflict..the not deserver?
1622 R. Sanderson Two Serm. Boston i. 26 The eater despised the not-eater; and the not-eater iudged the eater.
1651 Rec. Communion §4 To communicate with not-discerners.
1680 H. More Apocalypsis Apocalypseos 213 If both the Beheaded and the Not-worshippers of the Beast were of the same kind.
1992 Re: Cultural elites in soc.motss (Usenet newsgroup) 12 June If he's including himself among the not-movers and not-shakers, socially unconscious, and poorly educated, why should anyone vote for him?
b. With other types of noun. Cf. not-self n.
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1575 G. Fenton Golden Epist. f. 48 Our merit or not merit standes not in ye seruices which we doe to God.
1599 E. Sandys Europæ Speculum (1632) 180 The not possibilitie of erring being..peculiar unto God.
1627 W. Sclater Briefe Expos. 2 Thess. 14 Its something, at least a not-nothing.
1661 J. Howell Twelve Several Treat. 360 Issuing rather from his not-knowledge of me, than from malice.
1740 G. Cheyne Ess. Regimen 311 It must be actually brought to be not-matter.
1818 J. Bentham Church-of-Englandism 171 In case of not-guiltiness.
1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets 452 What He attributes to idols, i.e. not-gods.
1867 J. S. Mill Exam. Hamilton's Philos. (ed. 3) xiii. 289 A complete idea of a closed figure, and of the boundary which incloses it—the outline separating object from not-object.
1906 S. Paget Young People i. 2 Once, and once only..she told the not-truth.
1995 W. Weaver tr. U. Eco Island of Day Before 431 It would differ from..matter because of its immobility. It would be almost a not-being.
c.
(a) With adjectival phrases, esp. with as, so, or too and a following adjective or participle.According to Webster's Dict. Eng. Usage (1989) 669–70, not too, while in standard use, has encountered much opposition in American English.
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1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. 1674/1 Accept my thankes, though they procede out of a not enough circumcised hart.
1584 J. Lyly Alexander, Campaspe, & Diogenes ii. ii. sig. C Whose deep and not to be conceiued sighes, cleaue the heart in shiuers.
1678 H. Vaughan Thalia Rediviva 61 The not to be repented shares Of time and business.
a1743 J. Relph tr. Martial Epigram in Misc. Poems (1747) 104 Be mine an humble cot,..A servant clean, a not too learned wife, [etc.].
1810 J. Porter Sc. Chiefs III. xviii. 390 The not to be repressed affection of the people.
1852 G. Daniel Democritus in London 143 My poor pint of pottage, (Which the not too-liberal soul Does to his dunces daily dole).
1863 A. C. Ramsay Physical Geol. & Geogr. Great Brit. 13 The not-long extinct volcano of the Island of Ascension.
1870 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 15 Nov. (1956) V. 120 We..cannot yet decide whether we should..have a modest little refuge in the not-too-distant country.
1882 Nature 25 May 86/2 Close individual resemblance of not-nearly-related species of butterflies.
1935 Discovery Sept. 262/1 The not-so-distant days of the pirates.
1959 J. Thompson Getaway xii. 74 Relief and gratitude at being snatched back from a last-straw, not-to-be-borne, peril.
1974 Sat. Rev. World (U.S.) 19 Oct. 41/1 All of this is seen through the eyes of a not-too-bright country boy.
1994 Time 30 May 18 Jake's ping-ponging between sexy, bitchy Amanda and not-as-sexy pregnant Jo.
(b) With adjectives or past participles.
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1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. i. 4 Wether was first,..of Sensible, or Notsensible; of Reasonable or Notreasonable?
1643 D. Digges Unlawfulnesse Subj. iv. 124 By the unspeakable scandall of these not-christian courses.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding iii. iv. 197 A Definition is nothing else, but the shewing the meaning of one Word by several other not synonymous Terms.
1774 S. Hallifax Anal. Rom. Civil Law 117 Punishments..short of Natural or Civil Death, were called Not-Capital.
1819 F. MacDonogh Hermit in London III. 171 Her not-stinted foot was pinched into pink satin shoes.
1843 H. D. Thoreau Let. 24 Jan. in Corr. (1958) 77 He is, at any rate, one of the not-bad.
1874 C. Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) III. 191 The product of a cross between not-related ants.
1923 R. Graves Feather Bed 25 Traitress to the secret rites of love, Publisher of the not-communicable.
1975 Times 20 Sept. 8/5 Brian Armstrong's Bags of Swank consisted of three not-bad scripts about his National Service.
(c) With present participles. See also not-being adj., not-living adj.
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1599 E. Sandys Europæ Speculum (1632) 115 Their not-erring and not controllable Lord of Rome.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) ii. iv. 19 You shall heare The Legion..sooner landed In our not -fearing-Britaine. View more context for this quotation
1654 T. Gataker Disc. Apol. 48 Some not-preaching Ministers.
1675 A. Woodhead et al. Paraphr. St. Paul 17 It was a law then which made not-knowing infants also guilty.
1762 R. Forbes Jrnls. Episcopal Visitations (1886) 215 He asked me how the not-swearing clergy lived now.
1853 W. O. Markham tr. J. Skoda Treat. Auscultation 204 The sound produced by striking together two hard, not-ringing (nicht-klingend) bodies.
1863 J. Brown Marjorie Fleming 6 A man..to give a second and not-forgetting look at.
1984 J. S. Bolen Goddesses in Everywoman (1985) xiv. 281 Her not-deciding stance is, of course, in reality a choice of nonaction.
1997 M. Keyes Rachel's Holiday viii. 74 But you're very thin and I just assumed that you were one of the not-eating brigade.
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1659 R. Boyle Some Motives & Incentives to Love of God 112 The not-wilfully Refusing it.
1724 S. Lowe Gram. Lat. Tongue 33 Interrogatives..us'd not-interrogatively.
C2. Compounds in which not does not simply negate what follows it.
a. Originally Logic. Frequently in form NOT. In predicate calculus: designating a function or operator that is true if the variable is false, and vice versa. Similarly in Boolean logic, and also in implementations of such a logic (in Computing, etc.). Also (Electronics): designating a gate circuit which produces an output signal only when there is no signal on its input.
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1947 Proc. IRE 35 758/2 The ‘not’ operation is..performed by an inverter tube.
1955 R. K. Richards Arithm. Operations in Digital Computers ii. 29 A fundamental concept which is found in Boolean algebra and which has no counterpart in ordinary algebra is the ‘not’ function.
1957 H. H. Goode & R. E. Machol Syst. Engin. xxv. 394 There is..evidence that certain synapses are inhibitory, i.e. not gates.
1986 W. L. Schweber Integrated Circuits for Computers iii. 61 The J input is connected to the K input by an inverter (NOT gate).
b. Designating (the surface of) the type of drawing paper known as ‘not’ (sense B. 3).
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1978 C. Hayes Compl. Guide Painting & Drawing Techniques viii. 120 (caption) Cold pressed paper. Frequently called ‘not’ paper.
1985 Draw it! Paint It! lv. 1525 (caption) A sheet of 140-lb..NOT paper, approximately 8″x8″.
1991 Artist Nov. 26/3 I was very careful..to select a surface that would not be hostile towards fine drawing with a pencil point and could not recommend all Not surfaced watercolour papers for this purpose.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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