nigh

Etymology

From Middle English neygh, nygh, nye, nyȝ, from Old English nēah, nēh, from Proto-Germanic *nēhw. Cognate with Dutch na (“close, near”), German nah (“close, near, nearby”), Luxembourgish no (“nearby, near, close”). See also near.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /naɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

Adjective

nigh (comparative nigher or more nigh, superlative nighest or most nigh)

1. (archaic, poetic) near, close by

   The end is nigh!

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book II, canto IX, stanza 14, page 311:

     For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.

   • a. 1831, Ludovico Ariosto, William Stewart Rose (translator), Orlando Furioso, 2006, Echo Library, page 185,

     He at his head took aim who stood most nigh;

   • 1831, John Knox, The History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland, page 421,

     By these and many histories more, it is most evident, that the more nigh salvation and deliverance approach, the more vehement is temptation and trouble.

   • 1834, Davy Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, page 197,

     The enemy, somewhat imboldened, draws nigher to the fort.

   • 1889, House of Commons of Canada, Debates: Official Report, Volume 2, page 1408,

     You then went to St. Andrews, the nighest ocean port.

2. Not remote in degree, kindred, circumstances, etc.; closely allied; intimate.
   • Knolles

     nigh kinsmen

   • Bible, Eph. ii. 13

     Ye […] are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

Verb

nigh (third-person singular simple present nighs, present participle nighing, simple past and past participle nighed)

1. To draw nigh (to); to approach; to come near.

   night is nighing, death is nighing

   nighing his hour

   a death-nighing moan

Adverb

nigh (not comparable)

1. Almost, nearly.

   Achieving the summit in a single day is, well, nigh impossible.

   • 2017 July 16, Brandon Nowalk, “Chickens and dragons come home to roost on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     Hell of a surprise in the seventh season premiere of Game Of Thrones. Arya Stark, fresh off a nigh Cersei-level ambush of the Frey household, comes upon a small campfire surrounded by fresh-faced red cloaks.

   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 12, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. […] It looked like a tomb and smelt pretty nigh as musty and dead-and-gone.

Preposition

nigh

1. near; close to

   When the Moon is horned ... is it not ever nigh the Sun?

Anagrams

• Hing, hing

Etymology

From Middle Irish nigid (“he washes”), from Proto-Indo-European *neygʷ- (“to wash”).

Pronunciation

• (Munster) /nʲɪɟ/
• (Connacht, Ulster) IPA^(key): (imperative) /n̠ʲiː/, (analytic past indicative) /nʲiː/

Verb

nigh (present analytic níonn, future analytic nífidh, verbal noun ní, past participle nite)

1. (transitive, intransitive) wash

References

• "nigh" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• “nigid” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɲiː/

Etymology 1

From Middle Irish nigid (“he washes”), from Proto-Indo-European *neygʷ- (“to wash”) (compare English nixie (“water sprite”), Ancient Greek νίζω (nízō)).

Etymology 2

References

• Faclair Gàidhlig Dwelly Air Loidhne, Dwelly, Edward (1911), Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan/The Illustrated [Scottish] Gaelic-English Dictionary (10th ed.), Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• “nigid” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.