Dictionary

nesh en · ADJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /nɛʃ/

Etymology

From Middle English nesh, nesch, nesche, from Old English hnesċe, hnysċe, næsċe (“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.

Meanings

1. (UK, dialectal) Soft; tender; sensitive; yielding.
   • 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 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter XX, in Le Morte Darthur, book XIII:
2. (UK, dialectal) Delicate; weak; poor-spirited; susceptible to cold weather, harsh conditions etc.
   • And if he keeps the daughter so long at boarding-school, he'll make her as nesh as her mother was. 1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, “Chapter 4”, in The Woodlanders […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
   • "I wouldn't have locked up Noakes and stolen a car if I'd known you couldn't pick the lock!" "Aye, exactly, you're nesh, so you needed encouragement." 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Sceptre (Hodder and Stoughton), →ISBN:
   • No, tha'd drop down stiff, as dead as a door-knob, wi' thy nesh sides. 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 8, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
3. (UK, dialectal) Soft; friable; crumbly.

Forms

Deriveds

neshness · neshen · neshly

Translations (11)

ca fredolic (delicate, weak, poor-spirited, susc. to cold) · pl cherlawy (delicate, weak, poor-spirited, susc. to cold) · fr frileux (delicate, weak, poor-spirited, susc. to cold) · ro friguros (delicate, weak, poor-spirited, susc. to cold) · es friolento (delicate, weak, poor-spirited, susc. to cold) · gd dis (delicate, weak, poor-spirited, susc. to cold) · de kälteempfindlich (delicate, weak, poor-spirited, susc. to cold) · pt friorento (delicate, weak, poor-spirited, susc. to cold) · es friolero (delicate, weak, poor-spirited, susc. to cold) · ru не́жный (delicate, weak, poor-spirited, susc. to cold) · pl wydygany (delicate, weak, poor-spirited, susc. to cold)

nesh en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /nɛʃ/

Etymology

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.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To make soft, tender, or weak.
2. (Northern-England, dialectal, intransitive) To act timidly.

Forms