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till

[til]

Example Sentences Origin

preposition

up to the time of; until: to fight till death.

before (used in negative constructions): He did not come till today.

near or at a specified time: till evening.

Chiefly Midland, Southern, and Western U.S. before; to: It's ten till four on my watch.

Scot. and North England.

to.

unto.

conjunction

to the time that or when; until.

before (used in negative constructions).

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Till is always a great word to know.

So is quincunx. Does it mean:

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

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Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English (north) til < Old Norse til to, akin to Old English till station, German Ziel goal. See till²

Usage note
Till¹ and until are both old in the language and are interchangeable as both prepositions and conjunctions: It rained till (or until) nearly midnight. The savannah remained brown and lifeless until (or till) the rains began. Till is not a shortened form of until and is not spelled 'till. 'Til is usually considered a spelling error, though widely used in advertising: EXPANDOpen 'til ten.

COLLAPSE

Example Sentences

Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue till successful candidates are selected.

Men helped little, till they were shouted at or shocked.

But you walk on, till you see a group of friendly faces.

EXPAND

Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue till successful candidates are selected.

Men helped little, till they were shouted at or shocked.

But you walk on, till you see a group of friendly faces.

They did'nt invent gas/diesel combustion fuel till much later.

His only consolation was that he had helped postpone it till now.

Design a lampshade with a secret bloom that stays hidden till you switch on the light.

If it takes you a little longer learning how to beat eggs in your mom's kitchen, mom works with you till you get it.

Till a civic campaign last year changed driving habits, its fine roads gave it an appalling safety record.

Ladle soup into bowls, top with slices of grilled baguette and gruyère cheese, then broil till bubbling.

And finding the money has till now been a key impediment.

Put the sugar into the milk with the vanilla, and stir till it is dissolved.

Cook garlic and oil in a pot on low heat till brown, stir constantly.

Skomer is a marine nature reserve and is home to puffins at the start of spring till late summer.

Till now, lack of regulation has provided little incentive for the others to clean up.

Same dull weather day in, day out, till you went mad.

Roast jalapenos and onions in pan till almost black.

There's no such answer yet till now on the scientific aspect.

Sift the salt and flour together, pour over the eggs and milk into it, and beat quickly with a spoon till it is foamy.

Both fix nitrogen and are easy to till into the ground in the spring.

Usually, water droplets cause charges to build in clouds till lightning occurs.

Rest them on their heads till their tails curl so they are easier to handle.

Dig or till amendments and fertilizer into the soil, then rake the bed smooth.

Two belching diesel generators that have till now provided the electricity to keep the lights on will be put out to pasture.

Over low heat, add onions, simmer till onions are translucent.

Till soil in winter to bury overwintering resting bodies.

If you have a car, use it till it will not go any more.

Till that time it is best to brush our teeth, to be on the safer side.

Till recently, it has been better known for its litter and the world's largest stray-dog problem.

My friend and her mom stayed up till midnight looking up the answers on google.

And hold the questions till after everyone has spoken.

On the other sit the farmers who used to till the land until they were evicted.

Gray clouds behind us could bury our tracks till spring, wildfires ahead threaten to block our route with lumber.

The ancient leaven bread was made by the dough being left in a warm place till it began to ferment.

And there's no better ingredient than compost, whether you till it into beds or use it as.

Up till now we've had a good handle on the status of only few species such as birds.

It comes with the cooler weather and stays till spring.

If such person may live with family or in friend circle he is till lonely.

When it cools off the algae dies back till next year.

Place the mason jars in the boiling water for a minute to sterilize them, set aside till later.

Depends on the pregnancy and how much energy you feel you'll have till the end.

The issue of terrorism cannot be fully resolved till its hubs are decimated, politically or otherwise.

Late at night, outdoor tables fill with twenty-and thirtysomethings who come to party till sunrise.

The viral clips below should keep you occupied till then.

Actually, holding her till she gets her rage out of her system does usually work pretty well.

Dig or till in these additions, rake the soil smooth, and you're ready to plant.

It will come back year after year if you don't till.

Surviving till the next week is the only thing on the radar.

Midwest: when you've got something to celebrate, you do what you know and you do it to the utmost, till the cows come home.

Why look for new stuff when the old stuff worked great till it was banned.

It was a popular spot but, trouble was, some of money that was supposed to go into the till never quite made it there.

The college can not fire any employee till the crime is proven guilty.

And astronomers didn't detect it till three days afterward.

But till your favorite store gets this bar code reader- which may be a while- it is back to standing in those lines.

The students who go full time from the outset till graduation finish with much less debt.

All the second law says is that the entropy of a system not in equilibrium will increase till it reaches equilibrium.

Kremen said, though he won't know for sure till the revenues and expenses are tallied up at the end of the month.

So do nothing about new additions till you feel ready and able to cope.

If you need to text or surf while driving, please stay in the city till you die from it.

Add a hard drive to the picture and you'll be rocking till the club shuts down.

Except they don't wait till it's dark to come out".

We saw the last days of this great man he seems to be in a active mind till the last moment.

We had about three weeks till the article would come out.

If you only use plastic your bartender won't appreciate your generosity till the end of the evening when you sign your bill.

It claims to break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other till death.

So, you will have to wait till some dinosaurs have gone to the eternal hunting fields.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used with object)

to labor, as by plowing or harrowing, upon (land) for the raising of crops; cultivate.

to plow.

verb (used without object)

to cultivate the soil.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English tilen, Old English tilian to strive after, get, till; cognate with Dutch telen to breed, cultivate, German zielen to aim at

Related forms

mis·tilled, adjective

un·tilled, adjective

un·till·ing, adjective

well-tilled, adjective

noun

a drawer, box, or the like, as in a shop or bank, in which money is kept.

a drawer, tray, or the like, as in a cabinet or chest, for keeping valuables.

an arrangement of drawers or pigeonholes, as on a desk top.

Origin:
1425–75; late Middle English tylle, noun use of tylle to draw, Old English -tyllan (in fortyllan to seduce); akin to Latin dolus trick, Greek dólos bait (for fish), any cunning contrivance, treachery

noun

Geology. glacial drift consisting of an unassorted mixture of clay, sand, gravel, and boulders.

a stiff clay.

Origin:
1665–75; origin uncertain

Link To till

Collins

World English Dictionary

till¹ (tɪl)

—*conj, —prep*
1.	short for until Also (not standard): 'til
2.	(Scot) to; towards
3.	dialect in order that: come here till I tell you

usage Till is a variant of until that is acceptable at all levels of language. Until is, however, often preferred at the beginning of a sentence in formal writing: until his behaviour improves, he cannot become a member

till² (tɪl)

—vb
1.	to cultivate and work (land) for the raising of crops
2.	another word for plough

[Old English tilian to try, obtain; related to Old Frisian tilia to obtain, Old Saxon tilōn to obtain, Old High German zilōn to hasten towards]

'tillable²

—*adj*

'tiller²

—n

till³ (tɪl)

—n
	a box, case, or drawer into which the money taken from customers is put, now usually part of a cash register

[C15 tylle, of obscure origin]

till⁴ (tɪl)

—n
	an unstratified glacial deposit consisting of rock fragments of various sizes. The most common is boulder clay

[C17: of unknown origin]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

till

"until," O.E. til (Northumbrian), from O.N. til "to, until," from P.Gmc. *tilan (cf. Dan. til, O.Fris. til "to, till," Goth. tils "convenient," Ger. Ziel "limit, end, goal"). A common preposition in Scand., probably originally the accusative case of a noun now lost except for Icelandic tili "scope,"

EXPAND

the noun used to express aim, direction, purpose (e.g. aldrtili "death," lit. "end of life"). Also cf. Ger. Ziel "end, limit, point aimed at, goal," and compare till (v.).

till

"cultivate (land)" (early 13c.), "plow" (late 14c.), from O.E. tilian "tend, work at, get by labor," originally "strive after," related to till "fixed point, goal," and til "good, suitable," from P.Gmc. *tilojanan (cf. O.Fris. tilia "to get, cultivate," O.S. tilian "to obtain," M.Du., Du. telen "to

breed, raise, cultivate, cause," O.H.G. zilon "to strive," Ger. zielen "to aim, strive"), from source of till (prep.).

till

"cashbox," 1452, from Anglo-Fr. tylle "compartment," O.Fr. tille "compartment, shelter on a ship," probably from O.N. þilja "plank, floorboard," from P.Gmc. *theljon. The other theory is that the word is from M.E. tillen "to draw," from O.E. -tyllan (see toll (v.)),

with a sense evolution as in drawer (see draw).

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

till (tĭl) Pronunciation Key
An unstratified, unconsolidated mass of boulders, pebbles, sand, and mud deposited by the movement or melting of a glacier. The size and shape of the sediments that constitute till vary widely.

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

till

In addition to the subsequent idioms beginning with till, also see hand in the till; until.

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Slang

If it ain't broke, fix it till it is till hell freezes over

till kingdom come till the fat lady sings

Idioms & Phrases

till

hand in the till

until

Matching Quote

"The opera isn't over till the fat lady sings."

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