nesh
English
editPronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /nɛʃ/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛʃ
Etymology 1
editFrom Middle English nesh, nesch, nesche, from Old English hnesċe, hnysċe, hnæsċe (“soft, tender, mild; weak, delicate; slack, negligent; effeminate, wanton”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnaskwī, from Proto-Germanic *hnaskuz (“soft, tender”), from Proto-Indo-European *knēs-, *kenes- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”).
Cognate with Scots nesch, nesh (“soft, tender, yielding easily to pressure, sensitive”), Dutch nesch, nes (“wet, moist”), Gothic 𐌷𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌵𐌿𐍃 (hnasqus, “soft, tender, delicate”). Compare also nask, nasky, nasty.
Alternative forms
edit- nish (Newfoundland English)
Adjective
editnesh (comparative nesher, superlative neshest)
- (now UK dialectal) Soft; tender; sensitive; yielding.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter XX, in Le Morte Darthur, book XIII:
- haue ye no merueylle sayd the good man therof / for hit semeth wel god loueth yow / for men maye vnderstande a stone is hard of kynde / […] / for thou wylt not leue thy synne for no goodnes that god hath sente the / therfor thou arte more than ony stone / and neuer woldest thow be maade neysshe nor by water nor by fyre
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- (now UK dialectal) Delicate; weak; poor-spirited; susceptible to cold weather, harsh conditions etc.
- 1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, “Chapter 4”, in The Woodlanders […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
- And if he keeps the daughter so long at boarding-school, he'll make her as nesh as her mother was.
- 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 8, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
- No, tha'd drop down stiff, as dead as a door-knob, wi' thy nesh sides.
- (now UK dialectal) Soft; friable; crumbly.
Usage notes
edit- This is a fairly widespread dialect term throughout north-central England and North Wales.
Derived terms
editTranslations
editEtymology 2
editFrom Middle English neschen, from Old English hnesċan, hnesċian (“to make soft, soften; become soft, give way, waver”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnaskwōn (“to make soft”), from Proto-Indo-European *knēs-, *kenes- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”). Cognate with Old High German nascōn ("to nibble at, parasitise, squander"; > German naschen (“to nibble, pinch”)). Doublet of nosh.
Verb
editnesh (third-person singular simple present neshes, present participle neshing, simple past and past participle neshed)
- (transitive) To make soft, tender, or weak.
- (intransitive, dialectal, Northern England) To act timidly.
Anagrams
editAromanian
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editPlural of nes.
Pronoun
editnesh m pl (masculine singular nes, feminine singular nese, feminine plural nesi)
- (third-person masculine plural pronoun) they (all male or mixed group)
Synonyms
editSee also
edit- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛʃ
- Rhymes:English/ɛʃ/1 syllable
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- British English
- English dialectal terms
- Middle English terms with quotations
- English terms with quotations
- English doublets
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- Northern England English
- Aromanian lemmas
- Aromanian pronouns
- Aromanian personal pronouns