pill 1
/pil/ , n.
1. a small globular or rounded mass of medicinal substance, usually covered with a hard coating, that is to be swallowed whole.
2. something unpleasant that has to be accepted or endured: Ingratitude is a bitter pill.
3. Slang. a tiresomely disagreeable person.
4. Sports Slang. a ball, esp. a baseball or golf ball.
5. the pill . See birth-control pill .
6. pills , Brit. Slang. billiards.
v.t.
7. to dose with pills.
8. to form or make into pills.
9. Slang. to blackball.
v.i.
10. to form into small, pill-like balls, as the fuzz on a wool sweater.
[ 1375-1425; late ME pille pille pilula, dim. of pila ball; see -ULE ]
pill 2
/pil/ , v.t. , v.i.
1. Brit. Dial. to peel.
2. Obs. to become or cause to become bald.
[ bef. 1100; ME pilen, OE pilian to skin, peel pilare to strip (said of hair). See PILE 3 ]
pill 3
/pil/ , v.t. Archaic.
to rob, plunder, or pillage.
[ 1150-1200; ME; prob. conflation of PILL 2 with MF piller (see PILLAGE) ]