ˈnoway, adv.
Also 4 na wai, 6 Sc. naway, 5 no wey(e.
[f. no a. + way n.]
In no way or manner; not at all; by no means.
For the phrases by, in, on no way, see the n.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 22250 Ai quils þe frankis kinges es.., o rome..þe dignite Ne mai na wai al perist be. a 1425 Ibid. 9794 (Trin.), How miȝte þei mon of synne make clene? Certis no wey as hit is sene. 1573 Tyrie Refut. in Cath. Tract. (S.T.S.) 16 Quhilk ansuer as euerie man may sie is naway to the propos. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. i. xi. (1588) 64 No way better shall the Discretion of a Iustice of the Peace appeare. a 1648 Ld. Herbert Hen. VIII (1683) 340 He protested he was no way faulty in his Allegiance. 1685 Boyle Enq. Notion Nat. 173 Divers no-way mortal excrescenses and ulcers in the throat. 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) II. 58 The principle of self-love..being no-way moderated or restrain'd. 1760–2 Goldsm. Cit. W. xxii, His learning, his virtues,..were qualifications that no way served to recommend him. 1844 Herschel Ess. (1857) 592 Cavendish..is therefore no way to blame for any misconception which may prevail. 1875 Tennyson Q. Mary ii. ii, I have lived a virgin, and I noway doubt But that with God's grace, I can live so still. |
2. Usu. no way. In colloq. use: it is impossible, it can't be done.
| 1968–70 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III–IV. 86 Can we get out of the test? No Way! 1970 J. G. Vermandel Dine with Devil vii. 36 ‘No way I can do it any faster than that’... But Peter Angel was shaking his head. ‘No way, sorry.’ 1973 Observer 16 Dec. 40/1 A letter was dispatched to the Foreign Office asking HMG to foot the bill for any damage done—no way. 1973 Chicago Sun-Times 29 Dec. 25/1, I say Fred Astaire played a drunk in the made-for-TV movie ‘The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again’. My brother says, ‘No way.’ Who is right? 1974 Nature 15 Feb. 420/2 Suppose then that an ingenious scribe..decided to use the very compound which wasn't used again for that purpose until about 1920? No way, says McCrone. 1975 New Yorker 20 Jan. 29/1 He said he wouldn't start up a gang today—no way. |