And eke when I say "ye," ne say not "nay." Chaucer.

I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewisr perish. Luke xiii. 3.

And now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. Acts xvi. 37.

He that will not when he may,
When he would he shall have nay. Old Prov.

* Before the time of Henry VIII. nay was used to answer simple questions, and no was used when the form of the question involved a negative expression; nay was the simple form, no the emphatic. Skeat.

* Nay in this sense may be interchanged with yea. "Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir." Shak.

It is no nay, there is no denying it. [Obs.] haucer.