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View synonyms for till

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.

conjunction

to the time that or when; until.
before (used in negative constructions).

verb (used with object)

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

verb (used without object)

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.

noun

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

/ tɪl /

conjunction

Also (not standard)'til
short for until
dialect.
come here till I tell you

/ tɪl /

verb

to cultivate and work (land) for the raising of crops

/ tɪl /

noun

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

/ tɪl /

noun

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

/ tĭl /

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.

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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

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Confusables 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:

Open 'til ten.

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Derived Forms

ˈtiller, noun
ˈtillable, adjective

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Other Words From

mis·tilled adjective
un·tilled adjective
un·tilling adjective
well-tilled adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of till¹

First recorded

before 900; Middle English; Old English (north) til “to,” from Old Norse til “to,” akin to Old English till “station, fixed point, standing-place” German Ziel “goal”

Origin of till²

First recorded

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”

Origin of till³

First recorded in

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

Origin of till⁴

First recorded in

1665–75;

origin uncertain

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Word History and Origins

Origin of till¹

Old English til; related to Old Norse til to, Old High German zil goal, aim

Origin of till²

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

Origin of till³

C15 tylle, of obscure origin

Origin of till⁴

C17: of unknown origin

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Idioms and Phrases

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023