aught

1

or ought

[ awt ]
See synonyms for aught on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. anything whatever; any part: for aught I know.

adverb
  1. Archaic. in any degree; at all; in any respect.

Origin of aught

1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English aught, ought, Old English āht, āwiht, ōwiht, equivalent to ā, ō “ever” + wiht “thing”; see wight1

Other definitions for aught (2 of 4)

aught2

or ought

[ awt ]

noun
  1. a cipher (0); zero.

  2. aughts, the first decade of any century, especially the years 1900 through 1909 or 2000 through 2009.

Origin of aught

2
First recorded in 1820–25; from a naught, taken as an aught (cf. auger). See naught

Other definitions for aught (3 of 4)

aught3
[ awkht ]

verb (used with object)Scot.
  1. to own; possess.

  2. to owe (someone or something); be obligated to.

adjectiveScot.
  1. possessed of.

noun
  1. Archaic.

    • ownership; possession.

    • property; a possession.

Origin of aught

3
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English æht; cognate with Old High German ēht, Gothic aihts; akin to owe, own

Other definitions for aught (4 of 4)

aught4
[ awkht ]

adjectiveScot.

Origin of aught

4
First recorded in 1100–50; Middle English aghte, aughte, variant of eighte; see eight

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for aught (1 of 2)

aught1

pronoun
  1. anything at all; anything whatever (esp in the phrase for aught I know)

adverb
  1. dialect in any least part; to any degree

Origin of aught

1
Old English āwiht, from ā ever, ay 1 + wiht thing; see wight 1

British Dictionary definitions for aught (2 of 2)

aught2

ought

/ (ɔːt) /


noun
  1. a less common word for nought

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012