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prep

till

tihl
prep
1
Up to the time of; until.
"The shop is open till nine tonight."
"We won't know the results till next week."
noun
1
A cash register, or the drawer inside one that holds money.
"She counted the money in the till at the end of her shift."
verb
1
To prepare and cultivate land for growing crops.
"Farmers tilled the fields before planting the wheat."

How to Use Till

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishMeaning "until" in time expressions, or a shop's cash register, or to plough and prepare soil — depending on context.

Common mistake

"Till" and "until" mean exactly the same thing; neither is more correct, though "until" is often preferred at the start of a sentence.

Easily confused with
Common pairings
till the soil raid the till work till late

Word Forms

tilled past tense, tills plural, tills plural, Tills plural, tills singular

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The shop is open _____ nine tonight.

Etymology

From Old English til, related to Old Norse til, both from a Germanic root meaning "toward" or "up to a point." It is not a shortened form of "until" — in fact "until" was built from "till."

Rhymes for till

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