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nief

noun
/niːf/

Etymology

From Middle English neve (“the clenched hand, fist”), from Old Norse nefi, hnefi (also knefi) ("hand, fist, handful"), from Proto-Germanic *hnefô, from Proto-Indo-European *knep- (“to scrape, scratch, grind”), from Proto-Indo-European *ken- (“to scratch, scrape”). Cognate with Scots neif (“fist”), Norwegian neve, Danish næve, Swedish näve, Middle High German nevemez (“handful”).

  1. derived from *ken-✻ — “to scratch, scrape”
  2. derived from *knep-✻ — “to scrape, scratch, grind”
  3. derived from *hnefô✻
  4. derived from nefi
  5. inherited from neve — “the clenched hand, fist”

Definitions

  1. A serf or bondsman born into servitude.

    • That is, because the girl was his nief, or bondwoman, the daughter of one of his villains

  2. A clenched hand

    A clenched hand; fist.

    • Ake thought if ever he was walking alone on a dark-like night and Jimmy came on him, he with his bare nieves and Jimmy with a knife, he'd stand as much chance of getting home safe as a celluloid cat that had strayed into hell[…].
    • Nestorius exploded at that and hit out. He roared and dismissed the class, hitting out with his old mottled gnarled niefs.
    • "But t' Maister can stop and hit rarely. Happen he'll mak' him joomp when he gets his nief upon him."

  3. A handful or fistful.

  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. The handgrip of a sword or oar.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for nief. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA