nay

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

1.No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request made, now superseded by no.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.[1913 Webster]

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]

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]