Neigh
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The cry of a horse.
- 2 the characteristic sounds made by a horse wordnet
- 1 To make its cry.
"For hovv […] ſhall I knovv thee to be a man, vvhen thou kickeſt like an aſſe, neygheſt like an Horſe after vvomen, raueſt in luſt like a Bull, raueneſt like a Beare, ſtingeſt like a Scorpion, rakeſt like a VVolfe, as ſuttle as a Foxe, as impudent as a Dogge; ſhall I ſay thou art man that haſt all the Symptomes of a beaſt?"
- 2 make a characteristic sound, of a horse wordnet
- 3 To make a sound similar to a horse's cry.
- 4 To scoff or sneer. obsolete
"Yes, yes, 'tis he. I will assure you Uncle, the very he, the he your Wisdom plaid withal, I thank you for't, neighed at his Nakedness, and made his Cold and Poverty your Pastime; […]"
Example
More examples"I cannot neigh like a horse. I'm a donkey!"
Etymology
From Middle English neyen, from Old English hnǣġan, from Proto-West Germanic *hnaijan, from Proto-Germanic *hnajjaną (“to neigh”). Cognate with dialectal Dutch neien, Middle Low German neigen, Swedish gnägga, Icelandic hneggja.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.