different between ness vs nesh

English

Etymology

From Middle English nesse (in placenames), from Old English ness, næss, from Proto-Germanic *nasj? (“promontory; ness”); cognate with Middle Low German nes, Icelandic nes, Swedish näs, Danish næs. Related to nose.

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?s, IPA^(key): /n?s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Noun

ness (plural nesses)

1. (geography) A promontory; a cape or headland. (Frequently used as a suffix in placenames.)
   • 1958: Eric Rücker Eddison, Zimiamvian Trilogy, volume 3: “The Mezentian Gate”, page 177 (Elek Bks.)

     Velvraz Sebarm stands upon the lake, among orange-trees and pomegranates and almonds and peaches of the south, a mile north-west over the water from Zayana town, and two miles by land: an old castle built of honey-coloured marble at the tip of a long sickle-shaped ness that sweeps round southwards, with wild gardens running down in the rocks to the water’s edge, and behind the castle a wood of holm-oaks making a wind-break against the north.

Derived terms

• Little Ness

Translations

See also

• Nes
• Ness
• naze

References

• ness in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• The Collins English Dictionary, Collins, London & Glasgow 1986

Anagrams

• ESNs, NSSE, SE SN, SNES, Sens, Sens., sens

Vilamovian

Etymology

Cognate with German Nässe

Noun

ness f (plural nessa)

1. rainy weather
2. wetness

Related terms

• nessa

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n??/
• Rhymes: -??

Etymology 1

From Middle English nesh, nesch, nesche, from Old English hnes?e, hnys?e, hnæs?e (“soft, tender, mild; weak, delicate; slack, negligent; effeminate, wanton”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnaskw?, from Proto-Germanic *hnaskuz (“soft, tender”), from Proto-Indo-European *kn?s-, *kenes- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”). Cognate with Scots nesch, nesh (“soft, tender, yielding easily to pressure, sensitive”), Dutch nesch, nes (“wet, moist”), Gothic ???????????????????????????? (hnasqus, “soft, tender, delicate”). Compare also nask, nasky, nasty.

Alternative forms

• nish (Newfoundland English)

Adjective

nesh (comparative nesher, superlative neshest)

1. (now Britain dialectal) Soft; tender; sensitive; yielding.
2. (now Britain dialectal) Delicate; weak; poor-spirited; susceptible to cold weather, harsh conditions etc.
   • 1887, Thomas Hardy, The Woodlanders, Chapter 4:

     And if he keeps the daughter so long at boarding-school, he'll make her as nesh as her mother was.

   • 1913, D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Chapter 8:

     No, tha'd drop down stiff, as dead as a door-knob, wi' thy nesh sides.

3. (now Britain dialectal) Soft; friable; crumbly.

Usage notes

• This is a fairly widespread dialect term throughout Northern England, North Wales and the Midlands.

Derived terms

• neshen
• neshness

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English neschen, from Old English hnes?an, hnes?ian (“to make soft, soften; become soft, give way, waver”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnaskw?n (“to make soft”), from Proto-Indo-European *kn?s-, *kenes- (“to scratch, scrape, rub”). Cognate with Old High German nasc?n ("to nibble at, parasitise, squander"; > German naschen (“to nibble, pinch”)). Doublet of nosh.

Verb

nesh (third-person singular simple present neshes, present participle neshing, simple past and past participle neshed)

1. (transitive) To make soft, tender, or weak.
2. (intransitive, dialectal, Northern England) To act timidly.

Anagrams

• NHEs, Shen, hens