neigh
/neɪ̯/ noun, verb
Forms neighs neighing neighed
- noun The cry of a horse.
- verb (of a horse) To make its cry.
- verb To make a sound similar to a horse's cry.
- verb (obsolete) To scoff or sneer.
Synonyms
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English neyen, from Old English hnǣġan, from Proto-West Germanic *hnaijan, from Proto-Germanic *hnajjaną (“to neigh”). Cognate with dialectal Dutch neien, Middle Low German neigen, Swedish gnägga, Icelandic hneggja.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To utter the cry of the horse; to whinny.
- verb To scoff or sneer; to jeer. [Obs.]
- noun The cry of a horse; a whinny.
Etymology [OE. neien, AS. hn, prob. of imitative origin; cf. MHG. n, Icel. hneggja, gneggja, Sw. gnägga. Cf. Nag a horse.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “neigh”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details