nether
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L338647 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /nɛð.ə/ / /nɛð.ɚ/ / /neð.ə/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English nether, nethere, nithere, from Old English niþera (“lower, under, lowest”, adjective), from niþer, niþor (“below, beneath, down, downwards, lower, in an inferior position”, adverb), from Proto-West Germanic *niþer, from Proto-Germanic *niþer, *niþra (“down”), from Proto-Indo-European *ni-, *nei- (“in, down”). Cognates include Dutch neder, German nieder, Luxembourgish nidder, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish ned, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish nedre (“lower”), Faroese and Icelandic niður.
- Lower; under.
“The disappointed child’s nether lip quivered.”
“And yet another marvel, the nether side of the canopy over the high seats was encrusted with lapis lazuli, and in that feigned dome of heaven burned the twelve signs of the zodiac, every star a diamond that shone with its own light.”
- Lying beneath, or conceived as lying beneath, the Earth’s surface.
“the nether regions”
“When one thinks of the tremendous forces of the upper and the nether world which play for the mastery of the soul of a woman during the few years in which she passes from plastic girlhood to the ripe maturity of womanhood,”
adv
Etymology: From Middle English nether, nethere, nithere, from Old English niþera (“lower, under, lowest”, adjective), from niþer, niþor (“below, beneath, down, downwards, lower, in an inferior position”, adverb), from Proto-West Germanic *niþer, from Proto-Germanic *niþer, *niþra (“down”), from Proto-Indo-European *ni-, *nei- (“in, down”). Cognates include Dutch neder, German nieder, Luxembourgish nidder, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish ned, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish nedre (“lower”), Faroese and Icelandic niður.
- Down; downward.
- Low; low down.
name
Etymology: From Middle English nether, nethere, nithere, from Old English niþera (“lower, under, lowest”, adjective), from niþer, niþor (“below, beneath, down, downwards, lower, in an inferior position”, adverb), from Proto-West Germanic *niþer, from Proto-Germanic *niþer, *niþra (“down”), from Proto-Indo-European *ni-, *nei- (“in, down”). Cognates include Dutch neder, German nieder, Luxembourgish nidder, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish ned, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish nedre (“lower”), Faroese and Icelandic niður.
- Alternative letter-case form of the Nether.
noun
Etymology: Alteration of earlier nither, from Middle English nitheren, from Old English niþerian (“to depress, abase, bring low, humiliate, oppress, accuse, condemn”), from niþer (“below, beneath, down, downwards, lower, in an inferior position”). See above.
- Oppression; stress; a withering or stunting influence.
- A trouble; a fault or dislocation in a seam of coal.
verb
Etymology: Alteration of earlier nither, from Middle English nitheren, from Old English niþerian (“to depress, abase, bring low, humiliate, oppress, accuse, condemn”), from niþer (“below, beneath, down, downwards, lower, in an inferior position”). See above.
- To bring or thrust down; bring or make low; lower; abase; humble.
- To constrict; straiten; confine; restrict; suppress; lay low; keep under; press in upon; vex; harass; oppress.
- To pinch or stunt with cold or hunger; check in growth; shrivel; straiten.
- To shrink or huddle, as with cold; be shivery; tremble.
- To depreciate; disparage; undervalue.