nary

(Redirected from nary a)
See also: n-ary

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

Variant form of ne'er a.

Pronunciation edit

Adverb edit

nary (not comparable)

  1. Not, never.
    • 2014, Richard Swenson, More Than Meets the Eye: Fascinating Glimpses of God's Power and Design, Tyndale House, →ISBN:
      Every day, uncomplaining, this ten-ounce muscle contracts 100 thousand times nary “missing a beat.” Over a lifetime of faithful service, these two self-lubricating, self-regulating, high-capacity pumps beat two and one-half billion times []
    • 1923, Photoplay: The Aristocrat of Motion Picture Magazines:
      And all about the room, candles gleaming in branched sconces. Nary one glare of electric light.
    • 2014, Lori Gertz, When Mama Can't Kiss it Better, A journey of love, loss and acceptance[1]:
      Then, it took her nary ten minutes to diagnose me with adrenal fatigue
    • 2018, Antero Pietila, The Ghosts of Johns Hopkins: The Life and Legacy that Shaped an American City[2]:
      Nary three weeks before, on December 12, Officer Cherylann Young steered a marked Miami-Dade County police cruiser toward the perimeter of MIA, the international airport.
    • 2019 December 10, Yacht Club Games, "Story" (Mr. Hat), in Shovel Knight Showdown (version 4.1), Nintendo Switch:
      Mr. Hat: 'GOLDARMOR, THERE YOU ARE! I WAS THINKING... I'VE FOUGHT SCADS OF FOES, YET NARY A HAT IS WITHIN A GRASP!'

Adjective edit

nary (not comparable)

  1. Not any.
    • 1910, John McElroy, Si Klegg: Experiences of Si and Shorty on the Great Tullahoma Campaign, page 109:
      We'uns wuz willin't fout fur ole Tennessee, but for nary other State. When he started out o' Tennessee we'uns jest concluded t' strike out and leave him.
    • 1961 March 20, Flannery O'Connor, letter to Maryat Lee, [ublished in 1988, The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (→ISBN):
      I'm cheered you liked [“The Partridge Festival”] but I must have it back as I have nary other copy. If you really want to read somebody, read Proust for pity's sake.
    • 1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 286:
      Together standing on the step outside the apartment house. Where nary a moth will ever come to smash its little dust on a Bonniface window pane.
    • 2010, Dorothy McCleary, Not for Heaven, Wildside Press LLC, →ISBN, page 289:
      "Pish, and who cares for nary other?" Mrs. Bostwick cried out, tossing Etta's hand away from her. "I do, for one," said Etta tartly.

Translations edit

References edit

  • nary”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams edit

Lithuanian edit

Word edit

narỹ

  1. vocative singular of narỹs (joint)

Polish edit

 
Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology edit

Uncertain, possibly from Lithuanian nariaĩ (singular narỹs), possibly through Belarusian на́ры (náry).[1] Compare Russian на́ры (náry) and Ukrainian на́ри (náry). First attested in 1570.[2]

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

nary nvir pl

  1. (archaic) Synonym of prycza.

Declension edit

References edit

  1. ^ Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000) “nary”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)
  2. ^ Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “nary”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]

Further reading edit