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nether - What does it mean?

Definition of 'nether'

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) nether, nethere, nithere, from (etyl) .

Adjective

  • Lower; under.
    • The disappointed child’s nether lip quivered.
  • Lying beneath, or conceived as lying beneath, the Earth’s surface.
    • The nether regions.
  • * 1873 , Mark Twain, The Gilded Age , page187:
    • When one thinks of the tremendous forces of the upper and the nether world which play for the mastery of the soul of a woman during the few years in which she passes from plastic girlhood to the ripe maturity of womanhood,
    Synonyms
    * (lower) bottom, lower * (sense, beneath the Earth's surface) subsurface, subterranean
    Derived terms
    (top2) * netherdom * nether region * Netherlands * nethermore * nethermost (mid2) * netherness * netherty * netherward * netherworld (bottom)

    Adverb

    (en-adv)
  • Down; downward.
  • Low; low down.

    • Etymology 2

    Alteration of earlier nither, from (etyl) nitheren, from (etyl) . See above.

    Alternative forms

    * (l)

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To bring or thrust down; bring or make low; lower; abase; humble.
  • To constrict; straiten; confine; restrict; suppress; lay low; keep under; press in upon; vex; harass; oppress.
  • To pinch or stunt with cold or hunger; check in growth; shrivel; straiten.
  • To shrink or huddle, as with cold; be shivery; tremble.
  • To depreciate; disparage; undervalue.
    • Derived terms
    * (l)

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • Oppression; stress; a withering or stunting influence.
  • (mining) A trouble; a fault or dislocation in a seam of coal.

    • Anagrams

    *

    Similar to 'nether'

    neuter, natter, nadir, nutter, niter, nodder, neither, nidor, noter, needier, neater, nuder, nattier, nuttier, nother, nauther, netter, needer, natuer, nadder, nitter, nedder, nather, nither, nidder, netwar