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Nil

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Nil

	Nil \Nil\ [See Nill, v. t.]
   Will not. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Nil

	Nil \Nil\, n. & a. [L., a contr. of nihil.]
   Nothing; of no account; worthless; -- a term often used for
   canceling, in accounts or bookkeeping. --A. J. Ellis.
   [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Nil

	Nil \Nil\, n. (computers)
   A special value for a variable used in certain computer
   languages to mean no assigned value, to be distinguished from
   the value zero.
   [PJC]

Source: WordNet (r) 2.0
Nil

	nil
     n : a quantity of no importance; "it looked like nothing I had
         ever seen before"; "reduced to nil all the work we had
         done"; "we racked up a pathetic goose egg"; "it was all
         for naught"; "I didn't hear zilch about it" [syn: nothing,
          nix, nada, null, aught, cipher, cypher, goose
         egg, naught, zero, zilch, zip]

Source: Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)
Nil

	NIL /nil/ No. Used in reply to a question, particularly one asked using
   the `-P' convention. Most hackers assume this derives simply from LISP
   terminology for `false' (see also T), but NIL as a negative reply was
   well-established among radio hams decades before the advent of LISP. The
   historical connection between early hackerdom and the ham radio world
   was strong enough that this may have been an influence.

Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)
Nil

	NIL
     
        /nil/ 1. New Implementation of Lisp.  A language intended to
        be the successor of MacLisp.  A large Lisp, implemented
        mostly in VAX assembly language.  A forerunner of Common
        LISP.
     
        ["NIL: A Perspective", Jon L. White, MACSYMA Users' Conf Proc,
        1979].
     
        2. Network Implementation Language.  Strom & Yemini, TJWRC,
        IBM.  Implementation of complex networking protocols in a
        modular fashion.
     
        ["NIL: An Integrated Language and System for Distributed
        Programming", R. Strom et al, SIGPLAN Notices 18(6):73-82
        (June 1983)].
     
        3. Empty list or False.  In Lisp, the empty list (or "nil
        list") is used to represent the Boolean value False.  This
        is possible because Lisp is not typed.  True is represented
        by the special atom "t".
     
        4. Spoken in reply to a question, particularly one asked using
        the "-P" convention it means "No".  Most hackers assume this
        derives simply from LISP, but NIL meaning "no" was
        well-established among radio hams decades before LISP existed.
        The historical connection between early hackerdom and the ham
        radio world was strong enough that this may have been an
        influence.
     
        [Jargon File]