NOUN (1)

1. a negative;
- Example: "the nays have it"


ADVERB (1)

1. not this merely but also; not only so but;
- Example: "each of us is peculiar, nay, in a sense unique"

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

nay \nay\ (n[=a]), adv. [Icel. nei; akin to E. no. See No,
   adv.]
   1. No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request
      made, now superseded by no. Opposed to aye or yea.
      See also Yes.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

            And eke when I say "ye," ne say not "nay."
                                                  --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

            I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all
            likewise perish.                      --Luke xiii.
                                                  3.
      [1913 Webster]

            And now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily;
            but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
                                                  --Acts xvi.
                                                  37.
      [1913 Webster]

            He that will not when he may,
            When he would he shall have nay.      --Old Prov.
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   Note: Before the time of Henry VIII. nay was used to answer
         simple questions, and no was used when the form of the
         question involved a negative expression; nay was the
         simple form, no the emphatic. --Skeat.
         [1913 Webster]

   2. Not this merely, but also; not only so, but; -- used to
      mark the addition or substitution of a more explicit or
      more emphatic phrase.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Nay in this sense may be interchanged with yea. "Were
         he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir." --Shak.
         [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Nay \Nay\, n.; pl. Nays.
   1. Denial; refusal.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A negative vote; one who votes in the negative.
      [1913 Webster]

   It is no nay, there is no denying it. [Obs.] --haucer.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Nay \Nay\, v. t. & i.
   To refuse. [Obs.] --Holinshed.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

nay
    adv 1: not this merely but also; not only so but; "each of us is
           peculiar, nay, in a sense unique"
    n 1: a negative; "the nays have it" [ant: yea]