\Nay\, 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   made, now superseded by no. See {Yes}.
         And eke when I say ``ye,'' ne say not ``nay.''
                                               --Chaucer.
         I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all
         likewisr perish.                      --Luke xiii.
                                               3.
         And now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily;
         but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
                                               --Acts xvi.
                                               37.
         He that will not when he may, When he would he shall
         have nay.                             --Old Prov.
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.
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.
Note: Nay in this sense may be interchanged with yea. ``Were
      he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir.'' --Shak.

\Nay\, n.; pl. {Nays}.
1. Denial; refusal.
2. a negative vote; one who votes in the negative.
{It is no nay}, there is no denying it. [Obs.] --haucer.

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