Dictionary: NE'GRESS – NEMP'NE

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NE'GRESS, n. [See Negro.]

A female of the black race of Africa.

NE'GRO, n. [It. and Sp. negro, black, from L. niger.]

A native or descendant of the black race of men in Africa. The word is never applied to the tawny or olive-colored inhabitants of the northern coast of Africa, but to the more southern race of men who are quite black.

NE'GRO-LOID, a. [negro, and ειδος.]

Pertaining to men who have a resemblance to negroes.

NE'GUS, n.

A liquor made of wine, water, sugar, nutmeg and lemon juice; so called, it is said, from its first maker, Col. Negus.

NEIF, n. [Ice. nefi.]

  1. The neaf or fist. [Not used.] Shak.
  2. A slave. [Not used.]

NEIGH, n. [na.]

The voice of a horse; a whinnying.

NEIGH, v.i. [na; Sax. hnægan; Sw. gnägga; Dan. knæggar; It. annicchiare. In W. cnecu signifies to jar or quarrel; cnec, a sharp noise.]

To utter the voice of a horse, expressive of want or desire; to whinny.

NEIGH'BOR, or NEH'BOOR, n. [na'bur; Sax. nehbur, nehgebur, a nigh boor, a boor or countryman living nigh, (see Nigh;) G. nachbar; D. nabuur; Sw. nabo; Dan. naboe. See Boor. The true orthography, as this word is now pronounced, is nehboor; Sax. neh, nigh, and boor.]

  1. One who lives near another. In large towns, a neighbor is one who lives within a few doors. In the country, a neighbor may live at a greater distance; and in new settlements, where the people are thinly scattered over the country, a neighbor may be distant several miles. Such is the use of the word in the United States.
  2. One who lives in familiarity with another; a word of civility. Shak.
  3. An intimate; a confidant. [Not used.] Shak.
  4. A fellow being. Acts vii.
  5. One of the human race; any one that needs our help, or to whom we have an opportunity of doing good. Luke x.
  6. A country that is near.

NEIGH'BOR, v.t.

  1. To adjoin; to confine on or be near to. These grow on the hills that neighbor the shore. Sandys.
  2. To acquaint with; to make near to or make familiar. [Not used.] Shak. To neighbor it, in colloquial language, to cultivate friendly intercourse by mutual visits.

NEIGH'BOR-HOOD, n.

  1. A place near; vicinity; the adjoining district or any place not distant. He lives in my neighborhood.
  2. State of being near each other; as, several states in a neighborhood. Swift.
  3. The inhabitants who live in the vicinity of each other. The fire alarmed all the neighborhood.

NEIGH'BOR-ING, a.

Living or being near; as, the neighboring inhabitants; neighboring countries or nations. Paley.

NEIGH'BOR-LI-NESS, n.

State or quality of being neighborly. Scott.

NEIGH'BOR-LY, a.

  1. Becoming a neighbor; kind; civil. Judge if this be neighborly dealing. Arbuthnot.
  2. Cultivating familiar intercourse; interchanging frequent visits; social. Friend, you are not neighborly.

NEIGH'BOR-LY, adv.

With social civility; as, to live neighborly.

NEIGH'BOR-SHIP, n.

State of being neighbors. [Not in use.] Miss Baillie.

NEIGH'ING, n.

The voice of a horse; a whinnying. Jer viii.

NEIGH'ING, ppr.

Whinnying.

NEI'THER, n. [Compound pronoun, pronominal adjective, or a substitute. Sax. nather, nathor, nauther, or nouther; ne, not, and either or other, not either, or not other. So L. neuter, ne and uter.]

  1. Not either; not the one or the other.
  2. It refers to individual things or persons; as, which road shall I take? Neither, take neither road. The upright judge inclines to neither party. It is used as a substitute; as, the upright judge incline to neither of the parties. He neither loves, / Nor either cares for him. Shak.
  3. It refers to a sentence; as, “ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it.” That is, ye shall not eat, not either or other shall ye touch it; ye shall not eat, nor shall ye do the other thing here mentioned, that is, touch it. Gen. iii. “Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king;” that is, fight not, either with small or great. 1 Kings xxii. Neither, in the first part of a negative sentence, is followed by nor, in the subsequent part. It is neither the one nor the other. But or would be most proper, for the negative in neither, applies to both parts of the sentence. It is often used in the last member of a negative sentence instead of nor, as in the passage above cited. “Ye shall not eat it, neither shall ye touch it.” Here neither is improperly used for nor, for not in the first clause refers only to that clause, and the second negative refers only to the second clause. “Ye shall not eat it, nor shall ye touch it.” In the sentences above, neither is considered to be a conjunction or connecting word, though in fact it is a pronoun or representative of a clause of a sentence.
  4. Neither primarily refers to two; not either of two. But by usage it is applicable to any number, referring to individuals separately considered. Five or ten persons being charged with a misdemeanor or riot, each may say, neither of us was present.
  5. Neither sometimes closes a sentence in a peculiar manner, thus, “Men come not to the knowledge of ideas thought to be innate, till they come to the use of reason; nor then neither-” Locke. That is, not either when they come to the use of reason, or before. Formerly, in English, as in Greek and French, two negatives were used for one negation. But in such phrases as that above, good speakers now use either; “nor then either.”

NEM'A-LINE, a. [Gr. νημα, a thread.]

In mineralogy, having the form of threads; fibrous. Shepard.

NEM-CON, adv. [NEM. CON. for nemine contradicente. L.]

No one contradicting or opposing, that is, unanimously; without opposition.

NE-ME'AN, a.

Relating to Nemea in Argolis, where games were celebrated every third year.

NEM'O-LITE, n. [Gr. νεμος, a wood, and λιθος, a stone.]

An arborized stone. Dict. Nat. Hist.

NEM'O-RAL, a. [L. nemoralis, from nemus, a wood.]

Pertaining to a wood or grove. Dict.

NEM'O-ROUS, a. [L. nemorosus.]

Woody. Evelyn.

NEMP'NE, v.t. [Sax. nemnan, to name or call.]

To call. [Obs.] Chaucer.