aught

Multiple Entries:
  aught    ought  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
aught1 /ɔːt/ (also ought)

▶pronoun archaic anything at all.

– origin OE āwiht (see aye2, wight).

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
aught2

▶noun variant spelling of ought2.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ought1

▶modal verb (3rd sing. present and past ought)

• 1 used to indicate duty or correctness.

  ■ used to indicate a desirable or expected state.

  ■ used to give or ask advice.

• 2 used to indicate something that is probable.

– origin OE āhte, past tense of āgan ‘owe’ (see owe).

usage: Ought is an example of a modal verb, and does not behave like ordinary verbs. In particular, the negative is formed with the word not alone and not also with auxiliary verbs such as do or have. The standard construction for the negative is he ought not to have gone: the forms he didn't ought to have gone and he hadn't ought to have gone are not acceptable in standard modern English.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ought2 (also aught)

▶noun archaic term for nought.

– origin C19: perh. from an ought, by wrong division of a nought.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ought3

▶pronoun variant spelling of aught1.