Nighen

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To come near; approach. intransitive

    "[...] with so horrible countenance, that no man dare not nighen towards him."

  2. 2
    To bring near; appropriate. transitive

    "If you take an apple from the table you (1) reach forth the hand to it, (2) you close your fingers on it, (3) you nighen or bring back your hand with it."

Example

More examples

"[...] with so horrible countenance, that no man dare not nighen towards him."

Etymology

From Middle English neiȝnen, equivalent to nigh + -en. Cognate with German nähnen.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.