no

nay ay (n[=a]), 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 No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request made, now superseded by {no}. 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]