English

Alternative forms

• nish (Newfoundland English)

Adjective

nesh ‎(comparative nesher, superlative neshest)

1. (now Britain dialectal) Soft; tender; sensitive; yielding.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xx, in Le Morte Darthur, book XIII:

     haue ye no merueylle sayd the good man therof / for hit semeth wel god loueth yow / for men maye vnderstande a stone is hard of kynde / […] / for thou wylt not leue thy synne for no goodnes that god hath sente the / therfor thou arte more than ony stone / and neuer woldest thow be maade neysshe nor by water nor by fyre

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 and the Midlands.

Derived terms

• neshen
• neshness

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English neschen, from Old English hnescan, hnescian ‎(“to make soft, soften; become soft, give way, waver”), from Proto-Germanic *hnaskōną, *hnaskijaną ‎(“to make soft”), from Proto-Indo-European *knēs-, *kenes- ‎(“to scratch, scrape, rub”). Cognate with Old High German nascōn ("to nibble at, parasitise, squander"; > German naschen ‎(“to nibble, pinch”)).

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

• hens