TILL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does till mean? 

• TILL (noun)
  The noun TILL has 3 senses:

1. unstratified soil deposited by a glacier; consists of sand and clay and gravel and boulders mixed together

2. a treasury for government funds

3. a strongbox for holding cash

  Familiarity information: TILL used as a noun is uncommon.

• TILL (verb)
  The verb TILL has 1 sense:

1. work land as by ploughing, harrowing, and manuring, in order to make it ready for cultivation

  Familiarity information: TILL used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TILL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Unstratified soil deposited by a glacier; consists of sand and clay and gravel and boulders mixed together

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

boulder clay; till

Hypernyms ("till" is a kind of...):

dirt; soil (the part of the earth's surface consisting of humus and disintegrated rock)

Derivation:

till (work land as by ploughing, harrowing, and manuring, in order to make it ready for cultivation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A treasury for government funds

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

public treasury; till; trough

Hypernyms ("till" is a kind of...):

exchequer; treasury (the funds of a government or institution or individual)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A strongbox for holding cash

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

cashbox; money box; till

Hypernyms ("till" is a kind of...):

deedbox; strongbox (a strongly made box for holding money or valuables; can be locked)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "till"):

cash register; register (a cashbox with an adding machine to register transactions; used in shops to add up the bill)

• TILL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they till    ... he / she / it tills   
Past simple: tilled   
Past participle: tilled   
-ing form: tilling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Work land as by ploughing, harrowing, and manuring, in order to make it ready for cultivation

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

till the soil

Hypernyms (to "till" is one way to...):

process; work; work on (shape, form, or improve a material)

"Till" entails doing...:

crop; cultivate; work (prepare for crops)

Domain category:

agriculture; farming; husbandry (the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "till"):

plough; plow; turn (to break and turn over earth especially with a plow)

hoe (dig with a hoe)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

till (unstratified soil deposited by a glacier; consists of sand and clay and gravel and boulders mixed together)

tillage (the cultivation of soil for raising crops)

tillage (arable land that is worked by plowing and sowing and raising crops)

tiller (a farm implement used to break up the surface of the soil (for aeration and weed control and conservation of moisture))

tiller (someone who tills land (prepares the soil for the planting of crops))

tilling (cultivation of the land in order to raise crops)

 Context examples 

The conversation, thus turned on Adele, continued till we reached the light and cheerful region below.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

One must wait till it comes.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Nor did he speak till he had taken his seat on the coffin and begun to eat.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“Oh! I thought you were going to leave me out altogether,” said Mr. Omer, laughing till he coughed.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Poor Jo blushed till she couldn't blush any redder, and her heart began to beat uncomfortably fast as she thought what she had said.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Not till the first week of August, when he came home from the Cape, just made into the Grappler.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

She watched them till they had turned the corner, and listened till all sound of them had ceased.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

So far from having long understood you, I have been in a most complete error with respect to your views, till this moment.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I assure you, I can hardly exist till I see him.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

We rode hard all the way till we drew up before Dr. Livesey's door.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)