N't

contraction, slang

contraction, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Contraction
  1. 1
    not colloquial, contraction, dated

    "Do n’t tell me you ‘have n’t got time,’ / That other things claim your attention; / There ’s not the least reason or rhyme / In the wisest excuse you can mention: / Do n’t tell me about ‘other fish,’ / Your duty is done when you buy ’em; / And you never will relish the dish, / Unless you ’ve a woman to ‘fry ’em.’"

Example

More examples

"Do n’t tell me you ‘have n’t got time,’ / That other things claim your attention; / There ’s not the least reason or rhyme / In the wisest excuse you can mention: / Do n’t tell me about ‘other fish,’ / Your duty is done when you buy ’em; / And you never will relish the dish, / Unless you ’ve a woman to ‘fry ’em.’"

Etymology

Contraction of not.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.