'til, till, until

'til, till, until
Each of these words means "up until the time of," "near or at a specified time": "We shall wait for you 'til (or till or until) sundown." "He did not arrive until (or 'til or till) yesterday." 'Til is a shortened, variant form of until. 'Til seems needless, is obsolescent even in poetic diction, and should be used rarely, if at all. Till and until are interchangeable; each normally means "before," "up to," or "when." Until is usually preferred over till at the beginning of a statement because of its sound and to prevent confusion. 'Till is nonstandard.

Dictionary of problem words and expressions. . 1975.

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  • til / till —    Til is a contraction of the preposition until: I won t see you til tomorrow. Only one L.    Till is a verb meaning to cultivate : My Uncle Emmet tills about half the land on his farm and herds cattle on the rest …   Confused words

  • til / till —    Til is a contraction of the preposition until: I won t see you til tomorrow. Only one L.    Till is a verb meaning to cultivate : My Uncle Emmet tills about half the land on his farm and herds cattle on the rest …   Confused words

  • until — See til, till, until. Although the phrase up until the time of is used in explaining the meanings of these three words, it is doubtful that up is needed nearly so often as it is used. From a sentence such as I ll wait for you up until noon the up …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • 'til — See til, till, until …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • till — See til, till, until …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • until, till, 'til, 'till —    The first two are legitimate and interchangeable. The second two are wrong and, indeed, illiterate …   Dictionary of troublesome word

  • until, till, 'til, 'till —    The first two are legitimate and interchangeable. The second two are wrong and, indeed, illiterate …   Dictionary of troublesome word

  • until, till, 'til, 'till —    The first two are legitimate and interchangeable. The second two are wrong and, indeed, illiterate …   Dictionary of troublesome word

  • Until — Un*til , prep. [OE. until, ontil; un (as in unto) + til till; cf. Dan. indtil, Sw. intill. See {Unto}, and {Till}, prep.] [1913 Webster] 1. To; unto; towards; used of material objects. Chaucer. [1913 Webster] Taverners until them told the same.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 'til — or til [til] prep., conj. Informal till; until …   English World dictionary

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