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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English nesh, nesch, nesche, from Old English hnesċe, hnysċe, hnæsċe (“soft, tender, mild; weak, delicate; slack, negligent; effeminate, wanton”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnaskwī, from Proto-Germanic *hnaskuz (“soft, tender”), from Proto-Indo-European *knēs-, *kenes- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”).
Cognate with Scots nesch, nesh (“soft, tender, yielding easily to pressure, sensitive”), Dutch nesch, nes (“wet, moist”), Gothic 𐌷𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌵𐌿𐍃 (hnasqus, “soft, tender, delicate”). Compare also nask, nasky, nasty.
Alternative forms
- nish (Newfoundland English)
Adjective
nesh (comparative nesher, superlative neshest)
- (now UK dialectal) Soft; tender; sensitive; yielding.
1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter XX, in Le Morte Darthur, book XIII:haue ye no merueylle sayd the good man therof / for hit semeth wel god loueth yow / for men maye vnderstande a stone is hard of kynde / […] / for thou wylt not leue thy synne for no goodnes that god hath sente the / therfor thou arte more than ony stone / and neuer woldest thow be maade neysshe nor by water nor by fyre- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- (now UK dialectal) Delicate; weak; poor-spirited; susceptible to cold weather, harsh conditions etc.
1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, “Chapter 4”, in The Woodlanders , volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:And if he keeps the daughter so long at boarding-school, he'll make her as nesh as her mother was.
- (now UK dialectal) Soft; friable; crumbly.
Usage notes
- This is a fairly widespread dialect term throughout north-central England and North Wales.
Derived terms
Translations
delicate, weak, poor-spirited, susc. to cold
Etymology 2
From Middle English neschen, from Old English hnesċan, hnesċian (“to make soft, soften; become soft, give way, waver”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnaskwōn (“to make soft”), from Proto-Indo-European *knēs-, *kenes- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”). Cognate with Old High German nascōn ("to nibble at, parasitise, squander"; > German naschen (“to nibble, pinch”)). Doublet of nosh.
Verb
nesh (third-person singular simple present neshes, present participle neshing, simple past and past participle neshed)
- (transitive) To make soft, tender, or weak.
- (intransitive, dialectal, Northern England) To act timidly.
Anagrams
Aromanian
Alternative forms
Etymology
Plural of nes.
Pronoun
nesh m pl (masculine singular nes, feminine singular nese, feminine plural nesi)
- (third-person masculine plural pronoun) they (all male or mixed group)
Synonyms
See also