good neighbourgood neighborn.adj.
/(ˌ)ɡʊd ˈneɪbə/, U.S. /ˌɡʊd ˈneɪbər/ A. n.
1.
a. A person who behaves in a friendly, kindly manner towards his or her neighbours; (in plural) neighbours who reciprocally behave in this manner. Also in extended use.
ΚΠ
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin xxiii. 434 Men seyn an olde sawe, who hath a goode neighbour hath goode morowe.
1590 R. Harvey Plaine Percevall 23 Drinke to the funerals of your Enimitie. Stay good neighbors, now I am for your company.
1601 A. Dent Plaine Mans Path-way to Heauen 19 For methinkes you goe too farre, you goe beyond your learning in this, that you condemne good neighbours, and good Townesmen.
1612 in M. C. Questier Newslett. Archpresbyterate G. Birkhead (1998) 168 Thease seven weekes I have beene far awaye from my good neighbours & a meere strainger to my man & dame.
1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle IV. ci. 88 He was enabled to live at his ease, and enjoy his friend and his bottle, ambitious of no other character than that of an honest man, and a good neighbour.
1790 M. S. Cranch Let. 16 May in Adams Family Corr. (2009) IX. 60 They are good neighbours kind & charatable to the poor & tender to the sick.
1827 T. Carlyle Let. in J. A. Froude T. Carlyle: First Forty Years (1882) I. xxii. 430 Will you be good neighbours or bad? I cannot say.
1901 Spectator 3 Aug. 157/2 The giant cow-parsnip..and the native butter-bur (Petasites), are good neighbours.
1917 W. Riley Way of Winepress vii. 50 They were good neighbours, and mother found herself at ease with them from the first.
1985 T. Winton Scission 16 Mrs Mahoney had what Mum called ‘a generous bosom’; she was a good neighbour.
b. Politics (originally U.S.). A country which maintains friendly and cooperative relations with neighbouring countries, and does not interfere in their internal affairs.Associated particularly with the non-interventionist foreign policy established by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt with respect to the countries of Latin America: see quot. 1933.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > international politics or relations > [noun] > neighbouring country with good relations
good neighbour1933
1900 Amer. Hist. Rev. 5 691 He described the Mexican Government as a ‘wreck upon the ocean’... The President held that it was our duty as a good neighbor to extend to her a helping hand.]
1933 F. D. Roosevelt Inaug. Addr. 6 In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor.
1963 Listener 28 Mar. 542/2 General de Gaulle may calculate that the Soviet Union may want to become a good neighbour in Europe again.
2009 Straits Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 27 July More Asian countries see China as a good neighbour, a constructive partner, a careful listener, and a ‘non-threatening regional power’.
2. Scottish. A fairy, an elf, a brownie. Usually in plural with our or the, as a propitiatory name. Cf. good people at good adj., n., adv., and int. Compounds 1c. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > fairy or elf > [noun] > collectively
fairya1375
good neighboura1585
faerie1612
good peoplea1692
small people1696
little people1719
Sidhe1724
gentrya1731
little mena1731
small folk1785
little folk1791
gentlefolk1795
the wee folk1819
good folk1820
Pharisee1823
gentle-people1832
fairyhood1844
folk of peace1875
a1585 A. Montgomerie Flyting 275 in King James VI & I Ess. Prentise Poesie (1870) 68 In the hinder end of haruest vpon Alhallow ene, Quhen our gude nichtbors rydis.
1588 in R. Pitcairn Criminal Trials Scotl. (1833) I. iii. 162 For hanting and repairing with the gude nychtbouris and Quene of Elfame.
a1605 A. Montgomerie Flyting with Polwart 275 On Alhallow euen, When our good nighbours doe ryd.
1615 Orkney Witch Trial in A. Macdonald & J. Dennistoun Misc. Maitland Club (1840) II. 167 The fary folk callit of hir our guid nichbouris.
1817 Carlop Green in R. Brown Comic Poems 176 Tabitha wi' her tabby cats,..For a guid-neighbour ta'en because She's wiser than the lave.
1850 J. Grant Sc. Cavalier xiv The gude neighbours span on't the haill night, and ravelled a' my gude hawslock woo.
1959 K. M. Briggs Anat. Puck 192 People of Peace..is the Highland name for the fairies, corresponding to the Lowland ‘Good Neighbours’.
2003 N. Harris Witcha xvi. 121 These phaerie mounds, regardless of the objectivity or subjectivity of the good neighbours, are a physical reality.
B. adj. (attributive). Politics (originally U.S.).
Characterized by principles of friendship towards, cooperation with, and non-interference in the internal affairs of neighbouring countries; of or relating to international relations of this kind.In early use spec.: designating United States foreign policy towards the countries of Latin America.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > social intercourse or companionship > [adjective] > neighbourly
neighbourc1480
neighbourly1558
good neighbourly1598
neighbour-like1602
good neighbour1933
1933 N.Y. Times 14 Apr. 5/2 All Latin Americans are in accord with President Roosevelt's good-neighbor policy enunciated in his Pan-American Day speech.
1942 Newsweek 29 June 12/3 To avoid good-neighbor complications, the nationality of the sailors who figure in the play ‘My Sister Eileen’ will be changed from Brazilian to Portuguese in the screen version.
1944 Ann. Reg. 1943 346 The ‘good neighbour’ policy of the U.S.A. to the Latin American States.
1967 Listener 1 June 721/1 The shelving of a good neighbour policy in favour of the Dulles mania.
1992 Economist 29 Feb. 53/3 Helmut Kohl, the German chancellor, arrived to sign one of the good-neighbour treaties the Germans have now concluded with nearly all East European states.
2006 Canberra Times (Nexis) 16 Oct. a9 Others point out that China has engaged in good neighbour policies since the 1990s.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.adj.a1500