niddick

English

Etymology

Uncertain. The English Dialect Dictionary mentions several other spellings found in other dialects (nedack, neddick, nudack, nuddick, nudeck) and compares it to nod (“nape of the neck”), found in e.g. John Coker Egerton's Sussex Folk and Sussex Ways (1884). Compare the ending to -ock.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɪdɪk/

Noun

niddick (plural niddicks)

1. (dialect, West Country) The nape of the neck.
   • 1746, Exmoor Courtship‎^[2], published 1879, page 102:

     Chad a Crick in ma Back and in ma Niddick.

   • 1837, Mary Reynolds Palmer, A Dialogue in the Devonshire Dialect‎^[3], page 19:

     an way that a geed en sich a wap in the niddick that strambang a het es head agin the clovel, an made a bump in es brow.

   • 1903, Eden Phillpotts, The Striking Hours‎^[4], page 118:

     […] an' Tim just took un by the niddick, same as you might a kitten, an' hove the blasphemous twoad into the mud along wi' the ducks an' watercress.

   • 1928, Eden Phillpotts, Children of Men‎^[5], page 389:

     "Take my tarpaulin coat for the journey. A thought small, but it will keep your niddick dry."

   • [2015, Charles Hodgson, Carnal Knowledge: A Navel Gazer's Dictionary of Anatomy, Etymology, and Trivia‎^[6], →ISBN, page 115:

     Historically, other words have been used to refer to this place on the body: hattrel, niddick, noddle, noll, nuke, and poll; all have passed out of use.]

References

• Barnes, William (1862) Tiw; or, A view of the roots and stems of the English as a Teutonic tongue‎^[7], London, J.R. Smith, page 178