nether

See also: nether-

English

WOTD – 27 October 2010

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nɛð.ə/
(General American) IPA^(key): /nɛð.ɚ/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛðə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English nether, nethere, nithere, from Old English niþera (“lower, under, lowest”, adjective), from niþer, niþor (“below, beneath, down, downwards, lower, in an inferior position”, adverb), from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *niþer, *niþra (“down”), from Proto-Indo-European *ni-, *nei- (“in, down”). Cognates include Dutch neder, German nieder, Luxembourgish nidder, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish ned, Faroese and Icelandic niður.

Adjective

nether (comparative nethermore, superlative nethermost)

Lower; under.
The disappointed child’s nether lip quivered.
Lying beneath, or conceived as lying beneath, the Earth’s surface.
the nether regions
- 1873, Mark Twain, The Gilded Age, page 187:
  When one thinks of the tremendous forces of the upper and the nether world which play for the mastery of the soul of a woman during the few years in which she passes from plastic girlhood to the ripe maturity of womanhood,

Synonyms

(lower): bottom, lower
(beneath the Earth's surface): subsurface, subterranean

Derived terms

Hartington Nether Quarter
Nether Broughton
netherdom
nether region
netherhood
Netherlands
nethermore
nethermost
netherness
netherward
Nether Whitacre
netherworld
Nether Wyresdale

Translations

lower

Armenian: ստորին (hy) (storin)
Bavarian: nida
Bulgarian: долен (bg) (dolen)
Central Franconian: nedde
Dutch: neder (nl)
Finnish: ala- (fi), alempi (fi)
French: inférieur (fr)
German: nieder (de)
Hungarian: alsó (hu), al- (hu)
Italian: inferiore (it)
Japanese: 下の (したの, shitano)
Luxembourgish: nidder
Polish: dolny (pl)
Portuguese: inferior (pt)
Romanian: sub (ro)
Russian: ни́жний (ru) (nížnij)
Spanish: inferior (es), de abajo

beneath the earth's surface

Armenian: ստորերկյա (storerkya)
Bavarian: nida
Bulgarian: подземен (bg) (podzemen)
Finnish: maanalainen (fi)
French: souterrain (fr)
German: unterirdisch (de)
Greek:
Ancient: χθόνιος (khthónios)
Hungarian: föld alatti, al- (hu)
Italian: sotterraneo (it)
Luxembourgish: nidder
Polish: podziemny (pl)
Portuguese: subterrâneo (pt)
Romanian: subteran (ro)
Russian: подзе́мный (ru) (podzémnyj)
Spanish: subterráneo (es)

Adverb

nether (comparative more nether, superlative most nether)

Down; downward.
Low; low down.

Etymology 2

Alteration of earlier nither, from Middle English nitheren, from Old English niþerian (“to depress, abase, bring low, humiliate, oppress, accuse, condemn”), from niþer (“below, beneath, down, downwards, lower, in an inferior position”). See above.

Alternative forms

nither

Verb

nether (third-person singular simple present nethers, present participle nethering, simple past and past participle nethered)

(transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To bring or thrust down; bring or make low; lower; abase; humble.
(transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To constrict; straiten; confine; restrict; suppress; lay low; keep under; press in upon; vex; harass; oppress.
(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To pinch or stunt with cold or hunger; check in growth; shrivel; straiten.
(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To shrink or huddle, as with cold; be shivery; tremble.
(transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To depreciate; disparage; undervalue.

Derived terms

nethering

Noun

nether (plural nethers)

(UK dialectal, Scotland) Oppression; stress; a withering or stunting influence.
(mining) A trouble; a fault or dislocation in a seam of coal.

Anagrams

ethren, threne

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English nethere, from Old English niþera.

Adjective

nether

lower

References

Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 59