nigh

comparative nigher · comparative more nigh · superlative nighest · superlative most nigh

1. archaicpoeticNear, close by.

   The end is nigh!

   5 more examples

   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.

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

   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.

   1831, John Knox, The History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland, page 421

   The enemy, somewhat imboldened, draws nigher to the fort.

   1834, Davy Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, page 197

   Synonyms: close

2. Not remote in degree, kindred, circumstances, etc.; closely allied; intimate.

   Ye […] are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

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

present singular third person nighs · participle present nighing · participle past nighed · past nighed · alternative obsolete ny

1. ambitransitiveto draw nigh (to); to approach; to come near

   When the charnel-eyed Pale Horse has nighed

   1924, Thomas Hardy, He Resolves to Say No More

1. not comparableAlmost, nearly.

   We talked for nigh on to two hours.

   2 more examples

   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.

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

   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.

   2017 July 16, Brandon Nowalk, “Chickens and dragons come home to roost on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 25 Jul 2017

1. near; close to

   When the Moon is horned […] is it not ever nigh the Sun?

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

   1 more example

   The cottage stood nigh the burn, in a little garden, with lilyoaks and grosart bushes lining the pathway.

   1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

plural Nighs

1. A surname.
   1. A surname from Middle English
   2. A surname from German