until

From Middle English vntil, until, untill, ontil, ontill, equivalent to un- (“against; toward; up to”) +‎ till. Perhaps representing a northern variant of Middle English unto. See unto.

• (UK) enPR: ŭn-tĭlʹ, ən-tĭlʹ IPA^(key): /ʌnˈtɪl/, /ənˈtɪl/, /ʊnˈtɪl/
• (US) enPR: ŭn-tĭlʹ, ən-tĭlʹ IPA^(key): /ʌnˈtɪl/, /ənˈtɪl/
• (Appalachians, also) enPR: ŭn-tĭlʹ IPA^(key): /ˈʌntəl/[1]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪl
• Hyphenation: un‧til

until

1. Up to the time of (something happening).

   If you can wait until after my meeting with her, we'll talk then.

   • 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

     Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.

2. Up to (a certain place)

   Keep walking until the second set of traffic lights, then turn left.

3. Before (a time).
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.

   • 2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:

     Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."

4. (obsolete) To; physically towards.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 4:

     He rousd himselfe full blith, and hastned them untill.

• Occasionally used without an object, to mean up to the (unspecified) time supplies run out or ...the activity (work, hiring, etc) is finished, e.g. a posting for a job or bake sale stating it will last "from 2pm until."

• till (less formal)
• 'til (less formal)
• up to

• since

until

1. Up to the time that (a condition becomes true).
   • 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:

     It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. […]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.

   • 2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:

     Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.

2. Before (a condition becoming true).
   • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:

     It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.

• (up to the time that): till (less formal), 'til (nonstandard); see also Thesaurus:until
• (before): afore, before

• nutil, unlit