nief

English

WOTD – 30 July 2010

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niːf/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -iːf

Etymology 1

From Old French [Term?], from Latin nativus (“natural”). Doublet of naif and native.

Noun

nief (plural niefs)

1. (historical) 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

Alternative forms

• neif

Translations

serf or bondsman born into servitude

• German: Sklave (de) m, Leibeigene m
• Russian: родившийся (ru) (rodivšijsja) рабом (ru) m (rabom)

Etymology 2

From Middle English neve (“the clenched hand, fist”), from Old Norse nefi, hnefi (also knefi) ("hand, fist, handful"), from Proto-Germanic *hnefô, from Proto-Indo-European *knep- (“to scrape, scratch, grind”), from Proto-Indo-European *ken- (“to scratch, scrape”). Cognate with Scots neif (“fist”), Norwegian neve, Danish næve, Swedish näve, Middle High German nevemez (“handful”).

Noun

nief (plural niefs or nieves)

1. (chiefly Scotland, Ireland, Northern England) A fist. [from 14th c.]
   • 1934, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Grey Granite, Polygon, published 2006, A Scots Quair, page 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, page 160:

     "But t' Maister can stop and hit rarely. Happen he'll mak' him joomp when he gets his nief upon him."

Alternative forms

• neif
• nieve
• nef, nefe, neff, neiff, neaf (Scotland)

Translations

fist — see fist

Anagrams

• Enif, Fein, Fine, NiFe, feni, fine, ifen, neif, nife

Middle English

Noun

nief

1. Alternative form of neve (“nephew”)

Old Spanish

Alternative forms

• nyef (alternative spelling)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈnjeɸ]?

Noun

nief f (plural nieues)

1. Apocopic form of nieue (“snow”)
   • c. 1250, Alfonso X, Lapidario, f. 5v:

     Et los egiptianos llaman le la nief de acin ⁊ eſto es por que a color blanca.

     And the Egyptians called it the snow of Acin, because of its white color.