''nigh'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

↩ 🔳 🔳 🔳

---

Primary

⁀➴

''nigh'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250818152516-00-⌔

nigh - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

nigh (comparativenigher or more nigh, superlativenighest or most nigh)

• (archaic, poetic) Near, close by.
  • ✤ The end is nigh!
  • ✤ Daybreak is drawing nigh.
  • ✤ For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine/Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly,/Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine/A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye,/With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.¹
  • a. 1831, Ludovico Ariosto, William Stewart Rose (translator), Orlando Furioso, 2006, Echo Library, page 185,
    • ✤ He at his head took aim who stood most nigh;
  • ✤ By these and many histories more, it is most evident, that the more nigh salvation and deliverance approach, the more vehement is temptation and trouble.²
  • ✤ The enemy, somewhat imboldened, draws nigher to the fort.³
  • ✤ You then went to St. Andrews, the nighest ocean port.⁴
  • ✤ The end is nigh (or at least it was supposed to be), but the Pacers in northern England kept plugging away providing a service while awaiting the much-delayed arrival of their replacements.⁵
  • ✤ Who sends the waves that bring us nigh/Unto the shore, the rock of Christ?⁶
• Not remote in degree, kindred, circumstances, etc.; closely allied; intimate.
  • ✤ Ye […] are made nigh by the blood of Christ.⁷

Verb

nigh (third-person singular simple present nighs, present participle nighing, simple past and past participle nighed)

• (ambitransitive) to draw nigh (to); to approach; to come near
  • ✤ *When the charnel-eyed Pale Horse has nighed *⁸

Adverb

nigh (not comparable)

• Almost, nearly.
  • ✤ So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. […] It looked like a tomb and smelt pretty nigh as musty and dead-and-gone.⁹
  • ✤ Hell of a surprise in the seventh season premiere of Game Of Thrones. Arya Stark, fresh off a nigh Cersei-level ambush of the Frey household, comes upon a small campfire surrounded by fresh-faced red cloaks.¹⁰

Preposition

nigh

• near; close to
  • ✤ When the Moon is horned […] is it not ever nigh the Sun?¹¹
  • ✤ The cottage stood nigh the burn, in a little garden, with lilyoaks and grosart bushes lining the pathway.¹²

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English neygh, from Old English nēah, from Proto-West Germanic ﹡nāhw, from Proto-Germanic ﹡nēhw, from ﹡nēhwaz, from Proto-Indo-European ﹡h₂neḱ- (“to reach”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /naɪ/
• Audio (US): 🔊
• Audio (Australian): 🔊
• Rhymes: -aɪ

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

1. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 311: ↩

2. 1831, John Knox, The History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland, page 421: ↩

3. 1834, Davy Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, page 197: ↩

4. 1889, House of Commons of Canada, Debates: Official Report, volume 2, page 1408: ↩

5. 2020 May 20, John Crosse, “Soon to be gone… but never forgotten”, in Rail, page 63, photo caption: ↩

6. 2020, Keith Getty, Matt Boswell, Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker, Matt Papa, “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death”‎${}^{[1]}$ Getty Music Publishing (BMI)/Messenger Hymns (BMI)/Matthew Merker Music (BMI)/Jordan Kauflin Music (BMI)/Getty Music Hymns and Songs (ASCAP)/Love Your Enemies Publishing (ASCAP): ↩

7. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ephesians 2:13: ↩

8. 1924, Thomas Hardy, He Resolves to Say No More: ↩

9. 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC: ↩

10. 2017 July 16, Brandon Nowalk, “Chickens and dragons come home to roost on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club ‎${}^{[2]}$: ↩

11. 1661-5, Thomas Salusbury (translator), Galileo Galilei, Dialogue concerning the Two Chief World Systems, 1632 ↩

12. 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide: ↩

Link to original

Secondary

• • •

---