ness
/nɛs/ noun, proper noun
Forms nesses
- noun (geography) A promontory; a cape or headland. (Frequently used as a suffix in placenames.)
- proper noun (Irish mythology) An Ulster princess and the mother of Conchobar mac Nessa and Findchoem in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Daughter of Eochaid Sálbuide. Also the mother of Cormac Cond Longas by incest with Conchobar mac Nessa.
- proper noun A suburban village in Neston parish, Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire, England (OS grid ref SJ3076).
- proper noun The northernmost area on the Isle of Lewis, Western Isles council area, Scotland.
- proper noun A short river in Highland council area, Scotland, which flows from Loch Ness through Inverness to the Beauly Firth; in full, River Ness.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English nesse (in placenames), from Old English næs, from Proto-Germanic *nasją (“promontory; ness”); cognate with Middle Low German nes, Icelandic nes, Swedish näs, Danish næs, Old Norse nes. Related to nose.
Named after the River Ness, of Proto-Brythonic/Pictish origin, from a Proto-Celtic word *Nesta describing great currents, according to MacBain, from the same Proto-Indo-European root that gave the river Νέστος (Néstos), possibly *ned- (“water”) (cf. German nass (“wet”)).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A promontory; a cape; a headland. Hakluyt.
- noun A suffix used to form abstract nouns expressive of quality or state; as, goodness, greatness.
Etymology [AS. næs, ns; akin to Icel. nes, Sw. näs, Dan. næs, and E. nose. sq. root 261. See Nose.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “ness”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details