nief
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Pronunciation [edit]
- IPA: /niːf/
Etymology 1 [edit]
From Old French, from Latin nativus (“natural”).
Noun [edit]
nief (plural niefs)
- A serf or bondsman born into servitude.
- 1886, "The Fight at the Pass of Coleshill", The Red Dragon "Notes and Queries", page 471
- That is, because the girl was his nief, or bondwoman, the daughter of one of his villains
- 1886, "The Fight at the Pass of Coleshill", The Red Dragon "Notes and Queries", page 471
Alternative forms [edit]
Translations [edit]
serf or bondsman born into servitude
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Etymology 2 [edit]
From Old Norse hnefi, nefi, of unknown origin.
Noun [edit]
- (chiefly Scotland, Ireland, Northern England) A fist. [from 14th c.]
- 1934, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Grey Granite, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), p. 597:
- Ake thought if ever he was walking alone on a dark-like night and Jimmy came on him, he with his bare nieves and Jimmy with a knife, he'd stand as much chance of getting home safe as a celluloid cat that had strayed into hell….
- 1989, Anthony Burgess, The Devil's Mode:
- Nestorius exploded at that and hit out. He roared and dismissed the class, hitting out with his old mottled gnarled niefs.
- 2004, Jeff Silverman, The Greatest Boxing Stories Ever Told, p. 160:
- "But t' Maister can stop and hit rarely. Happen he'll mak' him joomp when he gets his nief upon him."
- 1934, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Grey Granite, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), p. 597:
Alternative forms [edit]
Translations [edit]
fist — see fist
