Middle English, from Old English nowiht "nothing," variant of nawiht (see naught). Meaning "zero, cipher" is from early 15c. Expression for nought "in vain" is from c. 1200. To come to nought is from early 15c. (become to naught, ycome to naught are from c. 1300).

"having no angle," 1846, from Greek agonos, from a- "not" (see a- (3)) + -gonos "angled," from gōnia "angle, corner" (from PIE root *genu- (1) "knee; angle"). In reference to the imaginary line on the earth's surface connecting points where the magnetic declination is zero.

also count-down, "the counting down of numerals in reverse order to zero before a significant event," also the preparations made during this time, 1953, American English, in early use especially of launches of rockets or missiles, from the verbal phrase (attested by 1954); see count (v.) + down (adv.).

mid-14c., "evil, an evil act," also " a trifle," c. 1400, "nothingness;" early 15c., in arithmetic, "the number zero;" from noht, naht (pron.) "nothing" (late 12c.), from Old English nawiht "nothing," literally "no whit," from na "no" (from PIE root *ne- "not") + wiht "thing, creature, being" (see wight). Also see nought.

Cognate with Old Saxon neowiht "nothing," Old High German niwiht, Gothic ni waihts, Dutch niet, German nicht. It also developed an adjectival sense in Old English, "good for nothing," which by mid-16c. had focused to "morally bad, wicked," though the modern adjective is naughty.

late 14c., nowghty, noughti "needy, having nothing," also "evil, immoral, corrupt, unclean," from nought, naught "evil, an evil act; nothingness; a trifle; insignificant person; the number zero" (from Old English nawiht "nothing;" see naught)) + -y (2).

Specific meaning "sexually promiscuous" is from 1869. The mitigated sense of "disobedient, bad in conduct or speech, improper, mischievous" (especially of the delinquencies of children) is attested from 1630s. Related: Naughtily; naughtiness. In 16c.-18c. a woman of bad character might be called a naughty pack (also sometimes used of men and later of children).

c. 1400, negatif, "expressing denial" (a sense now rare or obsolete), from Anglo-French negatif (early 14c.), Old French negatif (13c.) and directly from Latin negativus "that which denies," from negat-, past-participle stem of negare "deny, say no" (see deny).

The meaning "expressing negation" is from c. 1500; that of "characterized by absence of that which is affirmative or positive" is from 1560s. Algebraic sense, denoting quantities which are a subtraction from zero, is from 1670s. The electricity sense is from 1755.

Negative Capability, that is when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact and reason. [John Keats, letter, Dec. 21, 1817]

Related: Negatively.

1570s, in gunnery, "having a horizontal direction," said to be from point (v.) + blank (n.), here meaning the white center of a target. The notion would be of standing close enough to aim (point) at the blank without allowance for curve, windage, or gravity.

But early references make no mention of a white target, and the phrase is possibly from a simplification of the French phrase de pointe en blanc, used in French gunnery in reference to firing a piece on the level into open space to test how far it will carry. In that case the blank represents "empty space" or perhaps the "zero point" of elevation. The whole phrase might be a French loan-translation from Italian.

From 1590s as an adjective in English. The transferred meaning "direct, blunt, straight, without circumlocution" is from 1650s.