| 释义 |
▪ I. near, adv.1 (and prep.) Obs. exc. dial.|nɪə(r)|
Forms: 1 néar, néor, nér, níor, nýr, 3–4 neor, ner, nier, 4–5 neer, 4–7 nere, (7 neere), 5–6 Sc. neir, 6– near.
[OE. néar, etc., comparative of néah nigh adv., = OFris, nîar, nîer, nyer, etc., OS. nâhor (MDu. naer), MLG. (nâger), nâer, nâr, OHG. nâhor (MHG. nâher, nâr, G. näher, ON. nǽr (see near adv.2), Goth. nêhwis. Cf. nar a. and adv.]
I. In purely adverbial (or prepositional) use.
†1. With verbs of motion. Nearer or closer (to a place, point, or person). Freq. governing a noun in the dative. Obs.
Beowulf 745 Forð near ætstop, nam þa mid handa..rinc on ræste. c888K. ælfred Boeth. iii. §1 Ða eode se Wisdom near..minum hreowsiendum ᵹeþohte. 971Blickl. Hom. 179 Gang me near hider. c1205Lay. 8884 Þæne kæisere he eode neor. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4920 + 132 Cadwal..Aryuede bysyde toteneys [and] come somdel ner. c1400Rom. Rose 2442 But ofte thou faylest of thy desyre, Er thou maiest come her any nere. 1533J. Heywood Mery Play 653 Stand styll, drab, I say, and come no nere. 1596Edw. III, i. ii, Pardon me,..I will come no near.
†b. near and near, nearer and nearer. Obs.
13..K. Alis. 599 He schal wende of londe feor..and comen neor and neor. c1380Sir Ferumb. 350 Þe knyȝt him neȝeþ ner & ner. 1470–85Malory Arthur vi. vii. 193 Euer as they came nere and nere, syre launcelot thouȝt he shold knowe hym. a1557Diurn. Occurr. 45 Then the rest fled, and the Scottis drew neir and neir. c1611Chapman Iliad xxiii. 206 Still creeping near and near the heap.
c. Naut. in no near! (or near!), a command to the helmsman to come no closer to the wind.
c1450Pilgrims' Sea-voy. 29 Go to the helm!..no nere! 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 37 No neere, ease the Helme, or beare vp, is to let her fall to Lee-ward. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 18 No near, keep her full. 1710Pol. Ballads (1860) II. 80 Avast, cried out the Admiral, No-near, you rogues, no-near. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. No nearer, It is often abbreviated into no near, and sometimes into near; and is generally applied when the sails shake in the wind. 1841Dana Seaman's Man. 116 ‘Near!’ the order to the helmsman when he is too near the wind. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.
†2. At a nearer distance, with a less interval.
a1000in Cockayne Narrat. (1861) 22 Mid þy ic þa wolde near ᵹeseon. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4549 Þe traytour..fley atte laste To cornwaile.., he ne dorste no ner abyde. 1375Barbour Bruce xvi. 258 The king and all that with him war Raid..neir to-giddir than ere did thai. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 409 Men wolen not be euene wiþ crist ne go bifore hym..but sue crist neer or ferrere.
†b. In phrases equivalent in meaning to far and near (see near adv.2 1 b), but properly meaning ‘farther (off) and nearer (at hand)’. Obs.
a1000Instit. Polity in Thorpe Laws II. 332 Hit ᵹebyreð eow þa ᵹe me ᵹearwe beon, swa fyr swa nyr. c1175Lamb. Hom. 137 Hereword to habbene & beon iwurðeȝede fir & neor [= Trin. Hom. 157 fer & ner]. a1250Owl & Night. 923 East & west, feor & neor, I do wel faire mi meoster. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 21/72 Men speken muche of his guodnesse, wel wide feor and ner.
†c. More closely or intimately. Obs. rare.
c1200Ormin 15688 Þatt lott off menn..þatt was till Crist ȝet ner bitahht þan hise posstless wærenn. 1572Satir. Poems Reform. xxxviii. 18 I[n] greis neir to Ganȝelon nor grit Charlie Mane.
II. In predicative use after the subst. verb. (Freq. with dative or to.)
3. Nearer in space or time; nearer at hand.
c850O.E. Martyrol. 44 Swa he bið þære sunnan near swa bið his leoht læsse. c1000ælfric Hom. II. 370 Swa near ende þyssere worulde swa mare ehtnys þæs deofles. c1200Ormin 15235 [The] oþerr [bench] wass abufen þatt & summ del ner þa waȝhe. a1250Owl & Night. 1260 Nis heom þer fore harem no þe ner. 1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 9243 Þe nere þe cherche, þe fyrþer fro God. 1382Wyclif Rom. xiii. 11 Sothli now oure heelthe is neer, than whanne we bileueden. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. viii. ii, Þe nere euerich bemy lyne is to oþer lynes..the more strong he is. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 17 The nere to the churche, the ferther from God.
†4. Nearer in kinship or relationship. Obs.
831Charter in O.E. Texts 445 Nis Eðelmode eniᵹ meᵹhond neor ðes cynees ðanne Eadwald. 1340Ayenb. 234 Vor manie þer byeþ þet more byeþ nier god þanne manye maydines. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 69 Watir is neer hevene in kynde þan is erþe. a1450Knt. de la Tour (1868) 18 Y saide, she was bothe good and faire, but she shulde be to me no nere than she was. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xxxii. 46 That the duke of Brabant wold be redy for his part, sayeng, yt he was nere than they. 1605Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 146 The neere in blood, the neerer bloody.
5. Nearer to one's end or purpose. Only in negative and interrogative clauses, esp. never the near (common 1560–1625). Now only dial.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 250 Ȝet am I neuere the ner..To wyte what is Do wel. c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 168 With this chanoun I duelled have seven yer, And of his science am I never the ner. a1533Frith Answ. More (1548) K 2 b, Then is he neuer the nere hys purpose, but much the further from it. 1558G. Cavendish Poems (1825) II. 97 For all my conquests and my royal powers,..what ame I the nere? 1624Bp. R. Montagu Gagg 54 He may call his heart out..and not the neere. 1657R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 121 If it be not under lock and key, they are never the neer. 1854A. E. Baker Northampton Gloss. s.v. Nivver, I've worked all day, and am nivver the near.
b. With impersonal subject.
c1590Greene Fr. Bacon vi, You're early up, pray God it be the near. a1592― Jas. IV 80 There I kept a great house with smal cheer, but all was nere the neere. 1811Ora & Juliet IV. 93 As for staying with them there French rascals, it was never the near. 1886Elworthy W. Som. Word-bk. s.v. What's the near to tell up such stuff's that?
▪ II. near, adv.2 (and prep.)|nɪə(r)|
Forms: 2–6 ner, 4–7 nere, neer(e; north. and Sc. neir, (5 neyre, 7 neire); 6 nyer, 7 nier; 6–7 neare, 6– near.
[a. ON. nǽr (Da. nær, Sw. när), properly the comparative of ná- = OE. néah nigh, but also used as a positive: cf. nar adv.
The transition from the comparative to the positive sense in ON. probably originated in such expressions as koma or ganga nær ‘to come or go nearer’ (to a person or place), which readily passes into the sense of going absolutely ‘close’ or ‘near’. The positive sense having thus attached itself to the word, nær could be employed with other verbs than those of motion, as standa or vera (to be). A similar development has taken place in MDu. naer near (whence mod. Du. naar, to, for, after, etc.). Even in English some difference is felt in the sense of near according as it goes with a verb of motion or not, and in predicative use after the verb to be (expressed or implied) the adverbial sense tends to pass into a purely adjectival one.
ON. nær (like OE. néar) might be used either absolutely or governing a noun in the dative case. Both usages were adopted in ME., and a further construction introduced by the use of to before the noun. When the noun directly depends on near, this acquires practically the force of a preposition, but differs from real prepositions in having comparative and superlative forms.]
I. Used absolutely (without to or dependent n.).
* Denoting proximity.
1. a. To, within, or at, a short distance; to, or in, close proximity.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 2611 Egipte wimmen comen ner. 1352Minot in Pol. Poems (Rolls) I. 67 When he herd..That king Edward was nere tharby. c1386Chaucer Sqr.'s Prol. 1 Squier, come ner, if it youre wille be. c1470Henry Wallace ix. 272 He gaiff commaund na schip suld ner apper. 1508Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 161 To speik..I sall nought spar; ther is no spy neir. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 698 Two of the chiefest Aldermen..earnestly admonished him..to come not one foote nerer. 1596Spenser F.Q. vi. vi. 19 The salvage man did take his steede And in some stable neare did set him up to feede. 1642H. More Song of Soul ii. ii. ii. iii, Things near seem further off; farst off, the nearst at hand. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. i. 35 Like Shrubs, when lofty Cypresses are near. 1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 16/1 They ought..not..to stand nearer or more remote than Use and Necessity requires. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xviii, Now they come nearer. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. i. 379 Where noisy sparrows, perched on penthouse near. 1855Tennyson Maud i. xviii. viii, I have climb'd nearer out of lonely Hell. 1876T. Hardy Ethelberta (1890) 347 Come away there:..what need have ye for going so near?
Phr.1610B. Jonson Alch. iii. v, Though to Fortvne neere be her petticote, Yet, neerer is her smock. 1890Caine Bondman ii. x, Near is my shirt, but nearer is my skin!
fig.1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxvi. 249 ‘Did Miss Eva say she felt more unwell than usual to night?’ ‘No; but she telled me this morning she was coming nearer’.
b. far and near: (see far adv. 1 b, and cf. near adv.1 2 b). [So MDu. verre ende naer.]
a1300Cursor M. 3521 Bath on fer and ner [v.r. nere] he soght. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xix. (Christopher) 152 Crystofore..passyt one fere and neyre, sekand cryst. c1430[see far adv. 1 b]. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 16 b, The Churche of Christe was spreade abroade farre and nere. 1638Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. III.) 86 The happiness which I have from you..spreads itself both farre and neere. a1704–97[see far adv. 1 b].
c. In phrases near at hand, † near-away.
13..Cursor M. 15709 (Gött.), He es comand nere at hand. 1530Palsgr. 821/1 Nere at hande, bien pres. a1586Sidney Arcadia (1622) 96 She drew thither neare-away. 1670–98R. Lassels Voy. Italy II. 25, I once saw it near at hand. 1820[see hand n. 25 b]. 1891Daily News 31 Oct. 2/8 Near at hand parcels are being sold in considerable quantities.
d. Naut. Close to the wind. (Cf. adv.1 1 c.)
1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 25 The ship could lie no neerer then South-east. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 17 Keep her as near as she will lie. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780), No Nearer! the command given..to the helmsman, to steer the ship no nigher to..the wind than the sails will operate. 1846Young Naut. Dict. 218.
e. so near and yet so far: describing a person who or thing which is unattainable despite its apparent proximity.
1755W. Hay tr. Martial's Sel. Epigrams i. 15 In the whole town no soul can be So near, and yet so far from me. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xcv. 145 He seems so near and yet so far. 1863‘Ouida’ Held in Bondage I. i. 25 The long sunny future that stretched before us in dim golden haze,—so near and yet so far from our young longing eyes. 1863Harper's Mag. Dec. 93/2 Thou art so near, and yet so far! 1920R. Macaulay Potterism i. i. 8 In June and July 1914 the conversation turned largely and tediously on militant suffragists, Irish rebels, and strikers... It was a curious age, so near and yet so far, when the ordered frame of things was still unbroken, and violence a child's dream. 1939Joyce Finnegans Wake 213 I've lost it!.. So near and yet so far! 1962E. Cleaver in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 12/1 The actual conditions to which they aspired were..all around them, as it were ‘so near and yet so far’.
2. a. Of time: Close at hand.
13..Cursor M. 18023 (Gött.), Þe time es nu comand nere. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints i. (Petrus) 328 As linus sais, his dede wes nere. 1415Sir T. Grey in 43rd Rep. Dep. Kpr. Rec. 584 Skrop said þer was but iij. wais, þe tyme was so nere. 1535Coverdale Rom. xiii. 11 For now is oure saluacion nearer, then whan we beleued. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 232 Thende of his lyfe drewe nere. c1600Shakes. Sonn. cxl, Testie sick-men, when their deaths be neere. 1724Ramsay Vision xvi, How neir's that happie tyme? 1816J. Wilson City of Plague i. ii. 114, I trust my hour is near. 1866Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 312 My heart failed me as the time drew near. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 497 Now the hour of sunset was near.
b. near upon, close upon a particular time.
1681tr. Belon's Myst. Physick 4 A Physitian at Bruxells, did near-upon that time write against the use of that Remedy. 1814Cary Dante, Par. xxi. 115 Near upon my close Of mortal life. 1880Meredith Tragic Com. xv, Near upon morning he roused with his tender fit strong on him.
3. Closely connected with one by kinship or intimacy; esp. near akin or near of kin (see akin adv. and kin n.1 8 b). Also near and dear (cf. 13).
14..in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 102 His son schall..hys place to occupye Or ellis won that wer ner next of alye. 1491Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 22 Preamble, They be ner of kyn. a1533Ld. Berners Huon xliv. 147 How nere akyn art thou to the admyrall..? 1568Grafton Chron. II. 420 He was so neere of the bloud of king Richard. 1621Hakewill David's Vow 265 Though he were..never so neare and deare,..away hee must. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 55 The Turks never Marry their Kinswomen, if they be nearer than eight Generations inclusively. 1767–8[see kin n. 8 b]. 1826in Hone Every-day Bk. II. 1155 In company with one ‘near and dear’. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 230 Many of them near in blood and affection to the defenders of Londonderry. 1878[see akin A. 2].
4. In elliptical uses.
†a. to drive (one) near, to force into some strait or extremity. Obs.
1594Marlowe & Nashe Dido i. i, See, what strange arts necessity finds out! How near, my sweet æneas, art thou driven!
†b. the nearer, closer to one's end or purpose. (Cf. near adv.1 5.) Obs.
1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. xiii. §8 We are not a whit the nearer for that they have hitherto said. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 88 A hungry belly may call for more meat, and be never the neerer.
c. to lie near, to be natural or reasonable.
1846Trench Mirac. xv. (1862) 257 It lies near to suppose that he was there, returning thanks for the signal mercy.
** Denoting approximation in degree or amount.
5. Within a (very) little, all but, almost. (Freq. intensified by very, † well, or † full. Now usually expressed by nearly.)
a. In general use, esp. with pa. pples. or verbs to denote that an action is all but completed or accomplished.
c1200Ormin 9638 All þe Judewisshe follc Well ner wass all forrworrpenn. Ibid. 15517. a 1300 Cursor M. 4760 Þan iacob and his suns warn For defaut wel ner forfarn. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. vi. 180 He bette hem so bothe, he barste nere here guttes. c1430Syr Tryam. 1568 Thy gode dayes are nere done, Thy power ys nere paste! 1470–85Malory Arthur iii. xiii. 116 Her arme was sore brysed and nere she swouned for payne. 1559J. Aylmer Harborowe I 3 b, I mighte neare gather an equall authoritie betwixte the wife and the husbande. 1595Daniel Civ. Wars v. viii, If what we do shall perish neere as soone as it is donne. 1662Irish Act 14 & 15 Chas. II, c. 2 §31 That that near ruined kingdom will be restored to peace and plenty. 1696Whiston Th. Earth iii. (1722) 246 They appear to have been pretty near of an Age. 1733Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. iii. 26 One would serve to keep Plants fix'd and steady, very near, if not quite as well as the other. 1770Foote Lame Lover iii. Wks. 1799 II. 91 The knight is..very near drunk. 1836Haliburton Clockm. Ser. i. xii. 99 It's near about the prettiest sight I know of. 1851Maclagan Poems 65 The laft near comes doon. 1891Barrie Little Minister iii, He prays near like one giving orders.
b. With terms of number, quantity, extent, etc. † Also ellipt. = nearly all.
a1300Cursor M. 3155 He welk þat fell ner dais thre. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxii. (Laurence) 165, I spendyt hafe nere al þe tresoure, þat þu me gafe. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) v. 14 Fra Rodes to Cypre es nere vc myle. c1470Henry Wallace i. 208 A sone he had ner xxty ȝer of age. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccvii. 246 His men were ner slayne or taken, but fewe that were saued. a1553Udall Royster D. i. ii. (Arb.) 16 Hir Thousande pounde..Is muche neere about two hundred and fiftie. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies i. ii. 5, I have sayled neere 70 degrees from North to South. 1673Ray Journ. Low C. 8 At near an hundred foot depth they met with a Bed or Floor of Sand. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 231 It cost us near a Fortnight's Time. 1796C. Marshall Garden. xiv. (1813) 201 There should be near four feet distance between each set of plants. 1876Gladstone Homeric Synch. 21 The discussion..has continued for near a century.
c. So near upon (chiefly as in b).
1658–9Burton's Diary (1828) III. 335 They did near upon represent half the property of the nation. 1706Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 222 He said near upon as big as Mr. Dodwell's Book. 1829Landor Imag. Conv., Lucian & Timotheus Wks. 1853 II. 18/1, I am near upon eighty years of age. 1865Athenæum No. 1944. 121/3 Near upon thirty servants.
6. With negatives: (Not) by a great deal or a long way, (not) anything like, (not) nearly. Usu. followed by so.
1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 3 The forme of procedyng artificyal Is in no wyse ner poetycal. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 120 He is nothing neere so much delighted. 1669R. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 465 The King gave me fifteen hundred pound.., which did not near serve. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) II. ii. ii. 5 His army was not near so numerous as when he left Spain. 1827Southey Penins. War II. 14 They are not near so fine a people now as they were then.
7. Closely, in various senses, esp. in respect of pressure or touching, of resemblance, connexion, scrutiny, etc. (See quots.) Now rare.
a.1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 204 His inymyes..pressit him sa nere that outhir him behufit to be slayne or ellis to leve the barne. c1470Gol. & Gaw. 1177 It tuichis myne honour sa neir. a1533Ld. Berners Huon lxvi. 227 He that hath besynes that toucheth hym nere ought not to slepe. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. ii. 23 But he..suffred not their blowes to byte him nere. 1619W. Sclater Exp. 2 Thess. (1629) 254 In this, which toucheth neerest clamourous plaintiues. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §42 His Majesty had another Exception against the Duke, which touched him as near. 1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4674/8 The near Foot before pared very near towards the Heel.
b.1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 27 No religyon is founded hytherto y⊇ so nere representeth yt primityue chirche of Chryst. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 21 We will see how neere in writing they concurre. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 46 Elephants..are animals approaching very near to reason. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 401 They are in shape and bigness the nearest like our green grasshoppers. 1756Burke Subl. & B. i. xv, The nearer it [tragedy] approaches the reality,..the more perfect is its power.
c.1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 254 b, He is allied so nere that he may haply claime som ryght. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. i. 17 The Earle of Arminacke, neere knit to Charles. 1671Milton P.R. i. 400 Long since with wo Nearer acquainted.
d.1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 17 Thinges, which beynge nerer looked to, conteyne ofte tymes great errours. 1673Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 412 If it be thought fit to enter nearer and further into the matter.
8. In phr. as near as (one can, etc.). Esp. in colloq. phrases: (as) near as dammit (or damn-it), as near as makes no difference (or matter), extremely near; virtually.
1538Starkey England ii. i. 145 We wyl take nature for our exampul, and, as nere as we can, folow hyr steppys. 1615W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 27 A plaine without a knot, or as neere as you can without a knot. 1635R. N. tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. i. 16, I will..take such a husband as neere as may be. 1680Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 209 Work that Molding as near as you can with the Hook. 1894G. F. Northall Folk-Phrases 9 As near as damn it. As near as fourpence to a groat. As near as two ha' pennies for a penny. 1897Conrad Nigger of Narcissus iv. 91 You were as near hanging as damn-it tonight. 1911A. Bennett Hilda Lessways v. i. 338 That first night..I was as near as dammit to letting out the whole thing and chancing it. 1931[see dammit]. 1937D. L. Sayers Busman's Honeymoon viii. 171 You left here some time after 6.10 by that clock, which was right as near as makes no difference. 1961[see dammit]. 1961I. Jefferies It Wasn't Me! iv. 54 They near as dammit showed interest. 1970P. Moyes Who saw her Die? xiv. 183 Funny, isn't it, Miss Threep ending up in the hospital with Billing? Well, not with him, of course, but as near as makes no matter.
†9. Narrowly, only by a little. Obs. rare.
1590Greene Orl. Fur. (1599) 17 The Foxe is scapte:..I mist him neere, t'was time for him to trudge. 1592Marlowe Massacre Paris i. vii, See where my soldier shot him through the arm; He miss'd him near. 1819W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 67 Acquentin' him..How near he 'scap't frae bein' stabbit.
*** Denoting manner.
10. Thriftily; parsimoniously, meanly.
a1625Fletcher Woman's Prize iii. i, If thou canst love so neer [as] to keep thy making, Yet thou wilt lose thy language. 1723De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 58, I had lived so near and so close that in a whole year I had not spent the 15s. which I had saved. 1871Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 240, I and my wife may have to live a little nearer for the next month or two.
11. With the legs close together.
1710Lond. Gaz. No. 4785/4 Goes near before. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 40 A Horse that goes wide before, and near behind. Ibid. 63 He should stand pretty wide behind, and near before.
II. Followed by to († or unto).
12. a. Close to a place, thing, or person, in respect of space, or to a point in time.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 1395 Laban cam to ðat welle ner. a1300Cursor M. 12647 Ai to iesu was cummen neir Vn-to þe eild of thritte yeir. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. iii. (Percy Soc.) 15, I..sawe a craggy roche Farre in the west, neare to the element. a1548Hall Chron., Rich. III 49 b, The custome..nere to y⊇ see is..on every hill or high place to erect a beckon. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 171 Neere vnto the said plaine are diuers woods and forrests. a1628Preston Breastpl. Faith (1630) 107 The neerer we draw to God in this life, the more pleasure we have. 1700Dryden Pal. & Arc. i. 609 To Theseus' person he was ever near. a1774Harte Eulogius 19 Whether they nearer lived to the blest times [etc.]. 1816Byron Siege Cor. iii, Nearest to the wall..Was Alp, the Adrian renegade! 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xix. 199 Eva had come gradually nearer and nearer to her father. 1868Lockyer Elem. Astron. iii. §16 (1879) 89 As the Moon's orbit is elliptical, she is sometimes nearer to us than at others.
fig.1710Berkeley Princ. Hum. Knowl. i. §6 Some truths there are so near and obvious to the mind that [etc.].
†b. to come or go near to, to touch closely. Obs.
1600Holland Livy xlii. xiv. 1123 In this last speech he came neere unto the LL. of the Senat, and touched them to the quick. 1692L'Estrange Josephus, Antiq. iv. viii. (1733) 92 Nothing went nearer to them than the Memory of their Outrages against Moses in the Desart.
13. Closely related to one by kinship or some other connexion, esp. in near and dear.
c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7510 He was þe first seculere Þat was bischop to cuthbert nere. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. xii. 57 He is moste neere and moste deere vnto me. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 61 In this dangerous age, since every man is neerest, and onely neere unto himselfe. 1660Gauden Brownrig 241 Our inward garment, that should be nearer and dearer to us than our skins. 1711Addison Spect. No. 126 ⁋2 With the Hazard of all that is near and dear to us. 1746Eliza Heywood Female Spect. No. 22 (1748) IV. 197 Those persons so near and dear to him. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 347 They are all of one opinion about what is near and dear to them.
14. Close to something in respect of resemblance or correspondence.
1548Udall Erasm. Par. Luke x. 93 b, He came verai nere to man, bothe seeyng and beeyng seen. 1601J. Manningham in Ingleby Shaks. Cent. Praise (1879) 45 Most like and neere to that in Italian called Inganni. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. viii. 38 Which is very neere to direct Atheisme. 1751Chatham Lett. Nephew i. 2, I have..altered the..lines, in order to bring them nearer to the Latin. 1758Handmaid to Arts 382 The hollow parts must be covered with a colour the nearest in appearance to gold. 1820Examiner No. 654. 686/1 She comes near again to the excellence of her first performance. 1868Browning Ring & Bk. vi. 88 Fool that's near To knave. 1895North in Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 23/1 The case which comes nearest to this of those I have seen.
15. a. to go near to (with inf.): to be on the point of, almost to succeed in (doing something).
1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, i. ii. 102 If you take not heed, you shall goe neere To call them both a payre of craftie Knaues. 1660Sharrock Vegetables 16 If a sharp spring chance to follow it may goe near to spoile all..the seed. 1699Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 482 It's thought that about 8 of the members will goe near to be expelled. 1742Richardson Pamela III. 223 Such another Example..would go near..to ruin the Devils Kingdom in Bedfordshire. 1781Earl Malmesbury Diaries & Corr. I. 405 She goes near to think herself infallible. 1858Masson Milton I. 602 The panegyrics themselves went near to prove it. 1889F. Barrett Under Strange Mask II. xii. 34 It would go near to break her heart.
b. Const. with gerund. (Also come near to.)
1862Gladstone Glean. (1879) I. 1 They droop and come near to dying. 1890Temple Bar June 282 This final stroke went near to overcoming her.
III. Governing a n. (passing into prep.).
16. a. Close to, within a short distance of (a place, thing or person) in space.
a1300Cursor M. 3348 Sco..rade til þai come ner þe stedd. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 404 Meke arn alle þat wonez hym nere. c1400Destr. Troy 8075 The derf kyng Diamede drughe the lady ner. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 91 Into sic talk fell thay Quhill thay war neir hame. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 94 The Almonde is graffed not neere the top of the stocke, but about the middest. 1631E. Jorden Nat. Bathes iii. (1669) 22 Although neer the Coasts it be depressed and lower than the Shore. 1682T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 52 (1713) II. 76, I have seen many a lusty Cur troubled..when they have come near the Gallows. 1711Steele Spect. No. 49 ⁋2 Our Coffee-house is near one of the Inns of Court. 1776Trial of Nundocomar 47/1, I who am a Bramin will not go near a Mussulman that is dead. 1839G. Bird Nat. Philos. 209 Those portions of the atmosphere nearest the earth. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola xx, He lost no time in speaking as soon as she came near him.
fig.1592Lyly Gallathea iii. i, I thinke we came neere you when wee saide you loued. 1620Middleton Chaste Maid i. i, You'le steale away some Mans Daughter; am I nere you? 1685Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Matt. xi. 11 John..being nearest the Kingdom of the Messiah. a1704Locke (J.), He is not one jot nearer the end of such addition than at first setting out. 1889Barrie Window in Thrums xx, If you would cease to dislike a man, try to get nearer his heart.
b. to lie near, come near or go near (one, the heart, etc.), to touch or affect deeply. Now rare.
c1420Sir Amadace (Camden) xxvii, To serue the pore folke he was fulle bowne, For thay lay his hert nere. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iii. 19 No griefe did euer come so neere thy heart. 1611–12in Crt. & Times Jas. I (1848) I. 162 This went so near him, that it drove him into these diseases. 1722De Foe Plague (1754) 133 Private Safety lay so near them, that they had no Room to pity the Distress of others. 1849Aytoun Poems, Heart of Bruce vi, There is a freit lies near my soul, I fain would tell to thee.
17. a. Close upon or to (a point in time).
13..Cursor M. 1393 (Gött.), It sal be nere þe worldes end. 1470–85Malory Arthur ii. xiii. 115 So that ye wille lodge with me, for it is nere nyghte. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ ii. i. §4 Persons who have lived nearest those times when the things were done. 1711Addison Spect. No. 127 ⁋6 Walking abroad when she was so near her Time. 1833H. Martineau Brooke Farm ii. 18 Setting out the table for dinner; for it was near one o'clock. 1850Tennyson In Mem. civ, The time draws near the birth of Christ.
b. Close upon, almost at (a state or condition).
1635A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1869) 60 The House of David..was neere utter extinction. 1661Boyle Spring of Air To Rdr., Which is really so near a readiness, that part of it has lain at the Press these six months. 1780H. Walpole Let. to Sir D. Dalrymple 11 Dec., He..took much notice of me when I was near man. 1823F. Clissold Ascent Mt. Blanc 22 The sun being now near his setting. 1902J. Buchan Watcher by Threshold 142 The hope was near fulfilment.
c. With gerund. Close to (doing something).
1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (1782) I. vii. 218 The comeliness of whose person was very near raising him to that throne. 1825New Monthly Mag. XIV. 205, I must have gone very near convincing him. 1877Scribner's Mag. XV. 259/1 One instance came very near having a serious result. 1895Bookman Oct. 23/1 He was perilously near showing his whole hand to the other side.
†18. Closely related to, intimate with (one). Obs.
c1470Henry Wallace v. 919 Off kyn he was, and Wallace modyr ner. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. i. 81, I would humour his men, with the imputation of beeing neere their Mayster. 1660T. Hall Funebr. Flor. G 2 Under Heavens Cope, There's none as I so near the Pope.
19. Close to (a thing or person) in point of similarity or achievement.
1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. x. 122 b, The people..are of complection neerer the blacke then white. 1632Lithgow Trav. ix. 387 Their language..is nearer the Latine, then the Italian. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. d b, There are but few in the Western Parts who come near him in that. 1815W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 250 Those..Approximate nearest the Great Judge of all. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 8 Which of the more recent historians..have come near them in the vigour and truth which they threw into that history?
IV. In combs.
20. a. In the sense of ‘closely’ or ‘close at hand’, as near-acquainted, near-adjoining, near-bordering, near-coming, near-fighting, near-following, near-guessed, near-resembling, near-smiling, near-stored, near-threatening, near-touching, near-ushering.
1639Fuller Holy War i. xiii. (1647) 21 Denmark and Norway *near-acquainted with the Arctick Pole.
1625K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis i. viii. 21 The King..walked in a *neere-adjoyning valley.
1630Drayton Moses Wks. 1753 IV. 1604 The *near-bord'ring envious Amalek.
1600Fairfax Tasso i. lxvi, Each soldier, longing for *neere comming glorie.
1598Chapman Iliad ii. 529 The bold *near-fighting men, who did in Phæneus live.
1625K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis ii. iv. 75 Prodigies, by which the *neere-following miseries were affirmed.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xxiv. ⁋7 That with a *near-guess'd strength in the tossing it up it may just Stand.
1739G. Ogle Gualtherus & Griselda 96 The lovely Maid and *near-resembling Boy.
1820Keats Lamia i. 125 Swift was seen..the guarded nymph *near-smiling on the green.
1729Savage Wanderer ii. 27 Tho' dress, *near-stor'd, its vanity supplies.
a1586Sidney Arcadia (1622) 295 The vnpitifulnesse of his owne *near-threatning death.
1615Marr. & Wiving vii. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 267 These blood *near-touching witcheries and inducements.
1634Milton Comus 279 Could that divide you from *neer-ushering guides?
†b. near-coloured, of much the same colour. Obs.
1606in Nichols Progr. Jas. I (1828) II. 67 Themselves not farre unlike, and their horses neere-couloured and suited.
c. Sc. near-(be)going or -(be)gawn, niggardly. [So Da. nærgaaende.] Also near-goingness.
a1774Fergusson Poems (1789) II. 105 A niggard, near-gawn elf. Ibid. 158 A hard, near-be-gawn miser. 1821Galt Ann. Parish vii. 76 The near-begoing Major and his sister. 1854H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 238 After a' his near-goingness wi' them. 1900S. MacManus in Century Mag. Feb. 607/2 Without..bein' either niggardly or near-goin'.
21. Prefixed to adjs. in the sense ‘almost, nearly, approximately’ as near-great, near-perfect, † near-sinking, † near-wretched, and to ns. in the sense ‘something that is nearly the same as, or is a substitute for, the thing specified’; ‘artificial’; spec. near-beer orig. U.S., a beverage resembling beer; beer with a very low alcoholic content; also attrib.; near-print (see quot. 1943); near-seal N. Amer., any fur treated and dyed to resemble sealskin; near-silk, artificial silk. Also † near-isle, a peninsula; † nearlike adv.
1928Daily Express 27 Apr. 12/4 The aspirant painters..drink near-absinthe instead of beer.
1909N.Y. Even. Post (Semi-Weekly ed.) 23 Aug. 2 The refusal of the Cities Commission to prohibit the sale of imitation beer, commonly known as ‘near beer’. 1921Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 27 Mar. 7/5 The thirty-six near-beer bars in operation here at present pay into the city treasury a total of $5,400 a year in the form of licence fees. 1963Times 14 Feb. 4/7 A hostess in a Soho near-beer club told a jury..that..customers were charged 15s. for two soft drinks made from blackcurrant juice.
1952Manch. Guardian Weekly 4 Sept. 3 Add the near-certainty of Massachusetts.
1822W. Sewall Diary 27 Sept. (1930) 89, I am much troubled with a bowel complaint. This must have been caused by drinking freely of near cider.
1973L. Snelling Heresy i. i. 11 Andover, Yale, fine athlete.., captained the Yale crew, near-effortless Phi Beta key, et cetera.
1926Ladies' Home Jrnl. Apr. 24 The decision was based on..two broken engagements, one near-engagement..and several flirtations.
1949Koestler Promise & Fulfilment ii. ii. 218 Each of them means a cherished near-escape story to some member of the commune. 1973C. Bonington Next Horizon xix. 261 Twenty-four hours later the shock of my near-escape really hit me, and manifested itself mainly in a sense of horror at letting down my family.
1942Daily Tel. 22 May 5/3 If the harvest collection should break down through a failure of fuel supplies, then near-famine conditions..may not be far away.
1938New Statesman 3 Dec. 904/2 He must now embrace..not merely those propertied groups which are reliably republican, but near-Fascists of the Flandin type as well.
1926Scribner's Mag. Sept. 34/2 (Advt.), Some more piquant revelations of the great and near-great in English and Continental Society.
1855W. Whitman Leaves of Grass 37 The laughing-gull..laughs her near-human laugh. 1943Times (Weekly ed.) 10 Feb. 5 A British army pitch-forked on to Mars would first smile at and then discover near-human characteristics in any local inhabitants that might appear.
1964M. Critchley Developmental Dyslexia xiv. 81 Many of them..become items within the community of illiterates or near-illiterates.
1625Lisle Du Bartas' Noe 124 There lies higher a neere-isle, betwixt Cuba and Mexico.
1598Florio, Quasi, almost,..veri-neere,..neerelike.
1955Koestler Trail of Dinosaur 253 The trouble with all near-miracles..is the unpredictability of their timing. 1957C. S. Lewis Let. 6 Mar. (1966) 275, I married..a very sick, save by near-miracle, a dying woman.
1949Koestler Promise & Fulfilment iii. i. 391 Transport cooperatives which have..a near-monopoly of cross-country bus services.
1964Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. II. 326 A temperature of 25° C represents near-optimum conditions.
1939Ann. Reg. 1938 261 The condition of the inhabitants was one of near-panic after this merciless destruction.
1956Nature 4 Feb. 239/2 Carbons in which neighbouring ordered regions lie in near-parallel orientation.
1963C. R. Cowell et al. Inlays, Crowns & Bridges ii. 5 The principle of ‘near parallelism’—that is, opposing walls must be nearly parallel with only enough divergence to make withdrawal of the pattern or impression possible.
1962Near-perfect [see attitude 2 c].
1934Dylan Thomas Let. 9 May (1966) 124 You've brought ‘conventional’ poetry..to a point of near-perfection.
1943E. H. Thompson A.L.A. Gloss. Library Terms 106/2 Processed, reproduced by duplicating processes other than ordinary printing, as by mimeograph, mulitgraph, rotoprint, multilith, etc. Also called Near-print. 1956Wilson & Tauber University Library 7 Journals, government documents, near-print, newspapers, manuscripts..have to be secured on an unprecedented scale. 1969N.Z. National Bibliogr. II. p. viii, The growing volume of mimeographed and near-print editions has presented particular difficulty.
1949Word Study Apr. 2/2 Cat..gut. Near rhyme..is the most generally accepted name.
1912J. H. Moore Ethics & Educ. 109 That state of near-savagery when any low-browed irresponsible..is allowed to go out and shoot to death everything that has the breath of life in it.
1902G. H. Lorimer Lett. Merchant 184 He leads the nag out..and examines every hair of his hide, as if he expected to find it near-seal. 1906–7T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Fall & Winter 4/1 Near Seal Jacket, made of finest quality skins, closely resembling real seal in appearance.
1919Mencken Amer. Lang. 159 Many characteristic Americanisms of the sort to stagger lexicographers—for example, near-silk—have come from the Jews. 1937D. Canfield Fables for Parents (1938) 251 Nude-coloured, near-silk stockings with a run down one leg.
1625K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis i. i. 3 Whom..The now neere-sinking Mariner invokes.
1911E. Ferber Dawn O'Hara iii. 34 Assuming a near-smile, she entered the room.
1950Koestler et al. God that Failed 63 The next five years were for me years of near-starvation.
1962W. Nowottny Lang. Poets Use vii. 169 The treachery of near-synonyms which can slant meaning in a new direction. Ibid. 168 Ambiguities (drawn variously from near-synonymity and from rhetorical repetitions involving syntactical similarity).
1910Century Mag. Apr. 891 Clothes and the Man. A near-true story. By Edith Rickert.
1951S. Spender World within World iii. 138 These writers wrote with a near-unanimity, surprising when one considers that most of them were strangers to one another.
1964Language XL. 206 Many of these ‘near-universals’ involve structural relationships.
1930Cambridge Daily News 25 Sept. 3/2 Never having worn even near-wool within rubbing distance of my skin.
1611B. Jonson Catiline iii. ii, O neere-wretched Rome, When both thy Senate and thy gods doe Sleepe.
▪ III. near, a.|nɪə(r)|
Forms: 4–5 ner, 5–6 nere, 6–7 neere, (7 neer; 6 Sc. neir, 7 neire), neare, 7– near.
[f. near adv.2]
1. Closely related by blood or kinship.
13..Cursor M. 20068 (Gött.), Sant iohan Þat was his sibe ner kines-man. 1375Barbour Bruce i. 54 He thair king suld be That wes in alsner degre. 1470–85Malory Arthur iii. xii. 114 [He] sayd she was his cosyn nere. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 471 b, It shall styre up fyre also amonges the nere of bloud. 1611Bible Lev. xviii. 17 They are her neere kinsewomen. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xix. 101 A man receives..the most honour from the greatnesse of his neerest kindred. 1711Addison Spect. No. 23 ⁋1 To raise Uneasiness among near Relations. 1760T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. ii. 258 A near kinswoman of Sir William Bird. 1840Arnold Hist. Rome II. xxxi. 218 The sons or near relations of the most influential members of the senate. 1867Tennyson Victim i, Were it our nearest, Were it our dearest,..We give you his life.
2. a. Of persons: Closely attached to, very intimate or familiar with, another. Freq. in phr. nearest and dearest; also absol. as n., one's closest and most beloved relatives or friends.
1523Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) I. 35 By the mowthe of hys most nere and cheffest Counsaylour. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 22 Your neere friends and familiar companions. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV iii. ii. 123 Why, Harry, doe I tell thee of my Foes, Which art my neer'st and dearest Enemie? 1610J. Chamberlain Let. 23 Jan. (1939) I. 296 The neerest and deerest frends he hath know not what to guesse of this humor. 1629Wadsworth Pilgr. vi. 51 Hee had a brother a neere retainer to his Highnesse of Wales. 1654Loveday tr. Calprenède's Cleopatra ii. 124 The nearest and dearest friends I had. 1822T. Creevey Let. 23 Dec. in Creevey Papers (1963) xi. 186 Brougham arrived here on Saturday, on his way—or rather out of his way—to his nearest and dearest. 1839Dickens Let. 21 Jan. (1965) I. 493 For those who are nearest and dearest to me I can realise little more than a genteel subsistence. 1887Bowen Virg. æneid ii. 85, I was his comrade near and companion. 1926F. M. Ford Man could stand Up i. ii. 38 Look how you let in your nearest and dearest—those who have to sympathise with you. 1959J. Burke Echo of Barbara ix. 92 One never does know much about one's nearest and dearest. 1975‘C. Aird’ Slight Mourning iv. 42 It's always family or friends who do you in... Nearest and dearest, that's who it'll be.
b. Of friendship, etc.: Close, intimate, familiar.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 249 b, For a nerer frendship, the lady Elenore..was promised freely to my eldest sonne. c1616Fletcher & Mass. Thierry & Theod. ii. i, Princely Son; And in this, worthy of a near[er] name. 1652Needham Selden's Mare Cl. Ep. Ded. 16 All overtures of Amitie and nearest alliance. 1702Rowe Tamerl. i. i, A Slave, of near Attendance on his Person.
3. With reference to animals or vehicles: Left (as opposed to far, off, or right).
This use is based on the fact that horses and cattle are commonly mounted, led, or approached, from the left side, which is consequently the one near to the person dealing with them. It is possible that the adj. here had originally a comparative force (from near adv.1).
a. of parts of animals, esp. horses.
1559Will J. Hilde (Somerset Ho.), A filly..with a white nere foote behinde. 1578in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 396 One grey..mare,..the neare ie walled. 1610J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xxvi. (1611) 184 A Horse..spanceled on both legs of the nearer side. 1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 12 To runne the edge of the botte downe the neare liske. 1707Lond. Gaz. No. 4325/4 A Nanberry on the inside of the near Leg. 1766Compl. Farmer s.v. Walk, Just as he is setting down his far fore-foot, he lifts up his near hind-foot. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 456 We are accustomed to approach all the larger domesticated animals by what we call the near side—that is, the animal's left side. 1884E. L. Anderson Mod. Horsemanship i. ii. 7 To mount without stirrups the rider should stand facing the near shoulder of the horse.
b. of horses in a team, cart-wheels, etc.
c1611Chapman Iliad xxiii. 325 Thy near horse..yet..gave thy skill the prize. 1756[F. Greville] Maxims, Char., etc. 22 The poor boy..whipped up the off instead of the near horse. 1764[see off a. 2]. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge lix, One..who sat postilion-wise upon the near horse. 1842Act 5 & 6 Vict. c. 79 §17 The track of the left or near wheel. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 188 The near leader dashed round the back of the coach.
Comb.a1840in J. Buel Farmer's Comp. 129 In this operation, the left-hand or near-side horse walks on the ground not yet ploughed. 1889H. F. Wood Englishman Rue Caïn iv, The carman was patching up the near-side wheels.
c. Of a motor vehicle; usu. in near side (freq. attrib.).
In countries where one drives on the right, the ‘near’ side is the righthand side.
1926Times 6 May 3/7 The defendant..went to the rear of the car and attempted to rip open the near side wheel with a knife. 1927[see dip-stick s.v. dip n. 11]. 1959Times 15 Dec. 13/5 The windscreen wipers were so arranged that the nearside blade flicked rain from the offside blade across the driver's line of vision. 1973‘H. Howard’ Highway to Murder i. 12 It felt like they'd got a flat on the nearside front wheel.
4. a. Close at hand; not distant. near space: space in the immediate vicinity of the earth; inner space.
1565Stapleton tr. Bede's Hist. Ch. Eng. 68 For that was the next nere water, which he could conueniently use for baptism. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa Introd. 27 Wilde Negros, who..utterly misliked their so neere neighbourhood. 1667Milton P.L. i. 192 Satan talking to his neerest Mate. 1709Berkeley Th. Vision §16 When we look at a near object with both eyes. 1752Gersaint Catal. Rembrandt's Etch. 115 On the Near-Ground, at the Bottom of the Print is a Globe. 1820Keats Ode to Nightingale 76 Thy plaintive anthem fades Past the near meadows. 1833H. Martineau Loom & Lugger ii. ii. 19 Those whose near residence tempted to an acquaintance. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. xiv, I'll find the nearest of our men to come and take charge of him. 1962New Statesman 24 Aug. 219/1 The Russians ‘have been busily preoccupied with the near-space environment and have ably demonstrated their..de-orbiting accuracies’. 1967Economist 20 May 791/3 The practical uses of ‘near-space’ in weather observation and in geological surveys of the earth.
Comb.1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 9 To have a care that they bee not too neare-stoned, or eare-marked. 1834M. Scott Cruise Midge (1859) 479 The outline indeed [was] dangerously distinct and near like.
b. near point: (see quots.). near work, work involving proximity of the eye to the object.
1876Bernstein Five Senses 70 This point, which is at a distance from the eye of about 4 or 5 inches, is called the near-point of the eye. 1880Sat. Rev. 15 May 637/2 For every eye there is a point within which clear vision is no longer possible without optical assistance; and this..is called the near-point. 1895Swanzy Diseases Eye (ed. 5) iv. 89 The use of the eyes for near work without spectacles when the condition..requires them.
c. With reference to time. near-term, used attrib. = short-term; occurring in or pertaining to the near future; opp. long-term a.
1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 617 The near prospect of reward animated the zeal of the troops. 1885Manch. Exam. 15 May 5/7 A thing of the near future. 1958Listener 18 Sept. 407/1 To turn to Australia. There the near-term position is much more comfortable, unemployment is less than two per cent. 1965H. I. Ansoff Corporate Strategy (1968) iv. 50 If the profitability picture urgently needs a near-term boost, a more modest goal..will be acceptable. 1971Flying Apr. S1/2 This..certainly does not suggest near-term improvement.
d. nearest neighbour, the member of a series or array nearest to that being considered; freq. attrib. (usu. with hyphen).
1937Jrnl. Appl. Physics VIII. 654/1 In a liquid the number of nearest neighbors and the interatomic distances are roughly the same as in the crystalline material. 1945A. F. Wells Structural Inorg. Chem. iii. 110 In each of these close-packed arrangements, cubic and hexagonal, each atom has twelve equidistant nearest neighbours, six in its own plane and three in each adjacent layer. 1961Jrnl. Biol. Chem. CCXXXVI. 864 (heading) Frequencies of nearest neighbor base sequences in deoxyribonucleic acid. 1972Computers & Humanities VII. 40 The statistical analysis of pattern in such horizontal distributions is another area to which some attention is now being given, with nearest-neighbour analysis the most frequently adopted method.
e. near money, a deposit, bond, etc., that can easily be converted into ready money.
1948G. Crowther Outl. Money (rev. ed.) ii. 65 Bank deposits, in those circumstances, might be something very close to money, but still not quite within the definition. They would be ‘near-money’. Ibid. 66 We have already come across another example of ‘near-money’ in the form of the Bill of Exchange. 1968Economist 23 Nov. 83/1 Ottawa itself is relying on a $2 billion ‘near-money’ savings bond issue at 63/4 per cent to meet its current excessive needs.
5. Of a road: Short, direct. (Chiefly in compar. and superl. See also cut n.1 15.)
1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. July 96 Yet nearer wayes I knowe. 1662Hickeringill Apol. Distressed Innoc. Wks. 1716 I. 292 By pretending..a nearer cut than going up to Hierusalem. 1702Addison Dial. Medals i. (1726) 17 It is a pity indeed there is not a nearer way of coming at it. 1801tr. Gabrielli's Myst. Husb. II. 116, I presume..the road we came is a nearer cut. 1885Act 48 & 49 Vict. c. 54 §14 Within four miles of one another by the nearest road.
6. a. Close, narrow, in various applications.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. i. 3 b, In this nere & narowe poynt betwene seruitute & libertie. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 9 He then had a neerer eye to the Lordes..and kept them a little strayter. 1662J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 146 Having weighed one parcel, so as they may have a near guess at the rest. 1685Dryden Sylvæ Pref., Ess. (ed. Ker) I. 256 The nearest, the most poetical..of any translation of the æneids. 1856G. J. Whyte-Melville K. Coventry i, It was a near race. 1860Russell Diary India II. 396 Long chases and near escapes.
b. near miss, a shot that only just misses a target; also transf. and fig.; near thing, something barely effected; a narrow escape.
1751Fielding Amelia IV. xi. ii. 123 You certainly know..how hard Colonel Trompington is run at your Town, in the Election of a Mayor; they tell me it will be a very near Thing, unless you join us. 1894Somerville & ‘Ross’ Real Charlotte II. xxiii. 120 ‘That was a near thing,’ remarked Mr. Hawkins complacently, as a slight grating sound told that they had grazed one of these smooth-backed monsters. 1930W. Gibson Hazards 8 A near thing! But he caught the plane: 'twas well He did not miss it. 1940Life 9 Sept. 120/2 The other was a near miss amidships. 1940Illustr. London News 28 Dec. 829/2 They came back with direct hits on a mine-sweeper and a supply ship, and a near miss on a destroyer to their credit. 1957F. Hoyle Black Cloud i. 17 You mean, Dave, that there's no chance of the cloud missing the solar system, of it being a near-miss, let us say? 1957Listener 21 Nov. 853/2 For those children who are near-misses as well as for those who make the grade. 1964D. Varaday Gara-Yaka xxi. 190 When one moving coil lashed over the crocodile's head, Mulembe snapped at it with spiky-toothed jaws which almost bit through... It was a near thing for the snake. 1967G. F. Fiennes I tried to run a Railway iv. 38 It had a lot of bomb damage to repair from a near miss whose crater was still unfilled. 1972‘E. Lathen’ The Longer the Thread xiv. 129 The taxi-drive..was..marked by enough near-misses to put from his mind any thoughts but survival. 1973Guardian 7 Mar. 2/1 French and Scandinavian pilots..had reported 11 ‘near misses’ over France to their airlines since Friday.
7. Closely affecting or touching one.
1605Shakes. Macb. iii. i. 118 Euery minute of his being thrusts Against my neer'st of Life. 1642J. M[arsh] Argt. conc. Militia 2 It is a more neare and immediate offence against the King. 1701Norris Ideal World i. vi. 378 It was of nearer consequence to Archimedes. 1775Johnson Tax. no Tyr. 9 Eagerness for the nearest good.
8. Niggardly, stingy, mean.
1616R. Carpenter Christ's Larumbell 49 Cold comfort, a neere hand, a needy reward. a1656Hales Gold. Rem. iii. (1673) 20 A near and hard and trucking chapman shall never buy good flesh. 1712Steele Spect. No. 402 ⁋4, I always thought he lived in a near Manner. 1753Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. (1861) III. 208 A good-natured man, but reckoned near. 1824Mrs. Sherwood Waste Not i. 11 She is mighty near, and there is but one fire and candle between them. 1874T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd xlix, Some were beginning to consider Oak a near man.
▪ IV. near, v.|nɪə(r)|
Also 6 (8) nere, 6 Sc. neire, 6–7 neere, 7 neare.
[f. near adv.2 or a.]
1. intr. To draw or come near, to approach (in place or time).
1513Douglas æneis xii. xii. 147 The swipir Tuscan hund assais And nerys fast. 1582Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 86 Wee sayle bye Ceraunia swiftly. Wheare.. a cantel of Italye neereth. 1613Heywood Braz. Age ii. ii, Their sports I'le neere to marre. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. iii. ii, Still it ner'd and ner'd. 1844Mrs. Browning Poems II. 242 Nay, keep smiling, little child, Ere the sorrow neareth. 1860Pusey Min. Proph. 379 As the time of the birth of our Lord neared.
2. trans. To draw near to, to approach (a person, place, etc.). † Also, to be near.
1610Heywood Gold. Age i. i, Keep off, I charge thee neere me not. 1637― Royal King ii. ii, Give up your Key Vnto that Lord that neares you. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. v. 177 We must by this means unavoidably near her. 1808Scott Marm. ii. xi, Soon as they neared his turrets strong. 1874T. N. Harper Peace through Truth Ser. ii. i. 90 The quotation..does not even near the point in debate.
3. To bring near to (one). rare—1.
1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps vi. §10. 171 [To] separate man from man, and near him to his Maker.
Hence ˈnearing ppl. a.
1863W. Lancaster Praeterita 44, I feign some nearing issue.., On which I wait. 1871Morley Condorcet in Crit. Misc. Ser. i. (1878) 49 The nearing dawn after a long night. |