nether
UK /nɛð.ə/ · US /nɛð.ɚ/ adjective, adverb, verb, noun, proper noun
Forms nethermore nethermost nethers nethering nethered the nether nither
- adjective Lower; under. “The disappointed child’s nether lip quivered.”
- adjective Lying beneath, or conceived as lying beneath, the Earth’s surface. “the nether regions”
- adverb Down; downward.
- adverb Low; low down.
- verb (transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To bring or thrust down; bring or make low; lower; abase; humble.
- verb (transitive, UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To constrict; straiten; confine; restrict; suppress; lay low; keep under; press in upon; vex; harass; oppress.
- verb (transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To pinch or stunt with cold or hunger; check in growth; shrivel; straiten.
- verb (transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To shrink or huddle, as with cold; be shivery; tremble.
- verb (transitive, UK dialectal, Scotland) To depreciate; disparage; undervalue.
- noun (UK dialectal, Scotland) Oppression; stress; a withering or stunting influence.
- noun (mining) A trouble; a fault or dislocation in a seam of coal.
- proper noun (Minecraft) A dangerous, hell-like underworld dimension in the game Minecraft, accessed via an obsidian portal, filled with lava, unique mobs, and resources.
Synonyms
bottom lower subsurface subterranean chthonian chthonic under
Etymology
From Middle English nether, nethere, nithere, from Old English niþera (“lower, under, lowest”, adjective), from niþer, niþor (“below, beneath, down, downwards, lower, in an inferior position”, adverb), from Proto-West Germanic *niþer, from Proto-Germanic *niþer, *niþra (“down”), from Proto-Indo-European *ni-, *nei- (“in, down”). Cognates include Dutch neder, German nieder, Luxembourgish nidder, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish ned (“down”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish nedre (“lower”), Faroese and Icelandic niður.
Alteration of earlier nither, from Middle English nitheren, from Old English niþerian (“to depress, abase, bring low, humiliate, oppress, accuse, condemn”), from niþer (“below, beneath, down, downwards, lower, in an inferior position”). See above.
From nether (“lying beneath”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Situated down or below; lying beneath, or in the lower part; having a lower position; belonging to the region below; lower; under; --opposed to upper.
Etymology [OE. nethere, neithere, AS. ni, fr. the adv. ni downward; akin to neo below, beneath, D. neder down, G. nieder, Sw. nedre below, nether, a. & adv., and also to Skr. ni down. sq. root201. Cf. Beneath.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “nether”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details